November 21 -- I was so glad to be able to come home after a 6 day absence. All those worries while we were gone: What would we find? Would the flood waters in our crawl space have risen into our house? And our childrens' two homes? Where would all of us live if our homes flooded? My emotions and hopes rose and receded with the flood waters and I was constantly flitting between worry and prayer. It was with great relief when we got home, immediately checked our crawl space and found that the water was 2 feet under our floor and everything still worked except the plumbing.
But at the same time I grieve for those less fortunate. We met our neighbours on our road this morning who live only a block away. She quietly said with tears in her eyes, "We've lost everything." I think the image of the forlorne look on her face will never leave me; as if the world was on her shoulders.
Driving down Vye Rd. Monday. These fields are used to getting flooded by the Nooksack River in Washington USA. Little did we know of the magnitude and astronomical destruction this flood would leave in its wake.
Six days later and heading home. Sumas WA was very busy cleaning up and gutting flooded homes. I was touched by how many booths had popped up at street corners, providing clean drinking water and food and how many people were smiling as they united in the enormous task of cleaning up the aftermath of the flood.
Never has it flooded at the eastern end of Sumas Prairie. We've lived out here for 41 years and never seen the likes of this. But after a week of heavy rainfall and the last day being 154mm in only 24 hours, the Vedder River dike and Sumas River dike would not hold.
To the north of our house.
East was looking good.
South wasn't bad either. Renee & Corwin's houses were dry as well as the shop.
The road between Corwin's and our house was still covered with a film of water. We're hoping we don't lose too much of our nursery stock.
Just beside the north end of our 22 acre property, the road was too flooded to drive through.
Our neighbour's containers floated to our place.
The barn floor was flooded.
Our next-door neighbours, deJong's place did not escape the flood waters.
How are the farmers going to know who's hay bale is who's?
Across from us the VerWoerd's house was dry like ours. Just water in the crawl space.
The field across from the south end of our property. Notice the road in the foreground covered with about 6" of water.
Our neighbour round the corner offered for us to park our equipment on his higher ground. But our place was high enough. Obviously other neighbours took up on his offer.
We drove round a bit and went to see nearby Arnold. The grey part of the shrub shows how high the water came. This is our old house that we lived in for 9 years. There was much activity going on with gutting houses. The garbage pile at the Arnold Community church was piling up fast.
Back at hour place.
I did a late walk along the railway tracks to check out our triangle property that we plan to build our retirement home on. It was still totally submerged.
Looking at the bio-gas plant next-door neighbours from the Vedder Mt. side.
Our place with deJong's barns in the background.
These following images were taken by Case as he kayaked from our place to Yarrow.
Our next-door neighbours, deJong's place.
House on Tolmie Rd.
Sandy & Erik's place (Case's brother) on No. 5 Rd had 8" of water on the main floor.
Our property on Boundary Rd. and our tractor. This is where we'll be losing the most trees.
Nov. 22, Monday:
The "marshmallows" are floating our way.
View from Campbell / McDermott Rds.
Marion Rd.
Mt. Cheam on the horizon.
Campbell Rd.
Notice the Blue Herin to the right.
Close to Dixon Rd we turned back.
The field right across from us.
Nelles Rd close to Birchwood Dairy.
View of the back pastures to the north of us, including our triangle property to the left. All the land to our west and north was still totally submerged.
DeJong's field to the left, our property in the middle and the bio-gas plant to the right.
Nov. 23 Tuesday: It has now been one week since the flood has peaked. As the water recedes slowly, the massive cleanup jobs begin. People band together to get in and get it done. The community spirit is high and out to help.
Son Corwin having a goofy moment while helping neighbour Conrad deJong with gutting his garage.The water in his crawl space was licking the main floor but did not submerge it.
Two boats were right by our property where the road ends and the water begins. They were taking people to their homes to retrieve any salvagable articles and explore the extent of the damage.
One of the drivers told me that a few days ago the water was 8' deep between Campbell & No 5 Rd by Dixon Rd. (half a block from our place).
Corwin took our bulldozer over to Conrad's.
The church across from us was also busy cleaning up.
This is one way to get around. Many vehicles, even semi-trucks tried get past our house but they all had to turn back.
Still many fields under water from our place to Sumas Mt.
The train will not be doing it's twice daily runs for a while. But these tracks remain useful for people walking, motorbiking or quadding. They've become a main thuroughfare between Yarrow and Abbotsford. Its the only way to get from Chilliwack to Abbotsford unless you want to drive Hwy 7 (which is closed to non-essential travel) and get home at least 2 hours later.
Corwin walked the tracks every day this past week. They plan to come home tomorrow.
Our plank bridge is still submerged.
The water has receded about a foot since we came home Saturday night.
Nov. 24 -- We now have only 1" of water left in our crawl space, having gone down from 2'. Case drove the tractor from our place to Yarrow today. He says at the end of our road where Interprovincial Hwy and Campbell roads intersect, the water is now about 2.5' deep. Still not drivable. Most of the hiking trails in our area are not accessible. But good ol' Vedder is in our backyard and always there for us. Today I hiked up to the old paragliders' lookout where I got some great views of the flood.
pic 2) The creek was stripped of its topsoil and small rock which ran onto the FSR (pic below) and ripped up the ground.
Scars of the heavy rainfall. This washout was on the FSR above the Lucky trail.
north
This was the largest washout.
northwest
Views from the old paragliders' lookout. It was at the base of Sumas Mt. that the dike broke causing Sumas River to run into Sumas Prairie that used to be Sumas Lake.
From west to north.
Our house is behind the tree on the bottom of this pic. You can see how close the flood waters came.
That's Campbell Rd. to the right.
From bottom upwards: Tolmie Rd, Interprovincial Rd, Dixon Rd, McDermott Rd; all submerged yet.
From Campbell to No. 4 Rd.
Beside the red triangle (lower right) is our property. We will probably lose most of those trees.
Zooming in on our property. Erik & Sandy's house is to the centre left with the turquoise roof.
Yarrow and the Vedder Canal ( our property lower left) -- northeast. The whole town of Yarrow had to evacuate last Tuesday but have now returned to their homes. Hopefully the second Atmospheric River happening tomorrow and the following days, doesn't cause the flood waters to rise too much again...
Very sobering photos. My heart goes out to your family and all the families who have experienced losses.
Glad that you escaped the worst of it but very sad for others.
Gary and Sheryl