Mr. Speaker, in May 2018, the city of Grand Forks and the surrounding Boundary district of southern British Columbia suffered the worst flooding in 70 years. A record snow pack, sudden melting and heavy rain on snow events sent the levels of the Kettle River and the Granby River up over their banks and into people's houses, businesses and over farms.
I drove through the area the next day. The highway was temporarily closed and much of the historic downtown of Grand Forks was under water, and whole neighbourhoods were inundated.
About 3,000 people were forced to flee their homes, about 1,500 buildings were evacuated throughout the regional district and more than 500 were damaged. Many remain empty today.
The flooding caused over $38 million in damages to residential neighbourhoods, farms, commercial areas and industrial operations throughout the Kettle Valley. Some farms lost huge areas of land when the river changed its course and swept through fields, turning valuable agricultural lands into watercourses or unusable islands.
Local residents stepped up during the flood, sandbagging in the hot sun and raising dikes to fend off a threatened second flooding event as snow melt proceeded in the surrounding mountains. Charitable organizations stepped, feeding the volunteers, finding shelter for the homeless and helping affected residents clean out their ruined homes. So many were impacted, and many have lost their homes. It has been a very difficult time for the people of Grand Forks and the surrounding area.
An office for Boundary flood recovery was set up, and those folks have been working day in and day out to deal with the emergency and plan for the future. What does that future look like? With climate change, more extreme weather events are expected over the coming years, such as more precipitation in winter, earlier springs and rain on snow events. Luckily, the forecast for this spring is more hopeful as snow packs are, for the time being, below normal.
However, concerns for the future are driving the decisions being made by the citizens of Grand Forks and by the Boundary flood recovery team. These are tough decisions, decisions like which neighbourhoods are likely to be flooded again, which properties ought to be bought out to open up areas that can be flooded during future events so the river can take a more natural course and which properties should be bought out to allow the construction of proper dikes that can protect other neighbourhoods.
Nobody likes to see their home singled out on a map as a property that might be sacrificed to create a safer future for the community as a whole. The flood recovery team, the City of Grand Forks, the Regional District of Kootenay-Boundary, the Province of B.C. and other agencies have created a plan for the future that will build a more resilient community and region. It will take time. The plan covers multiple years. It will also be expensive, more than $60 million.
Like all major infrastructure projects, funding will come from several sources. The City of Grand Forks will provide what it can, and has spent a lot of money already. The Province of B.C. has stepped up to the plate. However, local residents and agencies are relying on the federal government for a major part of the funding, primarily through an application to the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund. Without this funding, the future will be very difficult and uncertain for Grand Forks and the surrounding region.
