Abbotsford planning how to prevent future Sumas Prairie flooding

The City of Abbotsford is inviting residents to help decide on a plan to prevent future catastrophic flooding in the Sumas Prairie.

Four options will be presented to council Monday. The least expensive has a price tag of $209 million and the costliest is nearly $2.8 billion.

“Options provide varying levels of enhanced flood mitigation compared to current infrastructure in place,” says a release from the city.

“The City of Abbotsford needs to take immediate action to implement a solution within our municipality so that our community is not as significantly impacted when future weather events occur.”

Last year, when the Nooksack River in Washington state breached its banks, homes, businesses and farms in the area were devastated. Over 3,300 people fled their homes, and more than 600,000 poultry, 12,000 hogs, 420 dairy cattle and 120 beehives were lost in the floods. Mayor Henry Braun has estimated the damage to the city – including this hardest-hit area – at over $1 billion.

“The November 2021 rainfall in Abbotsford was estimated to be approximately a one-in-100-year event,” the release from the city continues.

“Due to increased weather events and impacts from climate change, more flood events could occur if improvements are not made.”

The least expensive option would involve repairing parts of the Sumas Dike, and upgrades to the Barrowtown Pump Station.

“This option would not meet minimum flood protection guidelines in B.C. It would not provide an enhanced level of protection,” the summary from the city reads.

The most expensive option would involve building new dikes and new pump stations.

“This option would meet minimum flood protection guidelines in B.C. and incorporate enhancements such as dike setbacks and floodway creation and provides the greatest level of overall protection out of all options,” the city’s outline of the plan says.

All city residents are being encouraged to give their feedback online, and the city acknowledges some of the options “may cause people to have questions about potential impacts to their property.”

Those with homes and businesses in the Sumas Prairie have received letters in the mail informing them about the upcoming consultation, and are being invited to register for in-person “engagement opportunities.”

The city also says it’s engaging with other governments, including Semá:th, Màthexwi and Leq’á:mel First Nations leadership, the province and the feds, the Fraser Valley Regional District, and Whatcom County, Wash.