What is a Tiger Dam? Crews build blockade across Highway 1 to hold back floodwaters in Abbotsford, B.C.
Extensive efforts were made over the weekend and early this week to hold back floodwaters in Abbotsford, B.C., including the use of a Tiger Dam along Highway 1.
Drone video shared by B.C.'s transportation ministry shows crews working on the dam, which is a long, orange tube filled with water.
According to U.S. Flood Control, which manufactures the product, Tiger Dams are meant to be flexible and can be stacked in a pyramid to created a barrier against rising water. The company says the tubes can be stacked nearly 10 metres high "and linked together seamlessly for miles."
In Abbotsford, a Tiger Dam was used along Highway 1 near Cole Road to hold back floodwaters from Sumas River.
According to the transportation ministry, local police, fire departments, workers from an Indigenous construction company and the military all worked to construct the dam overnight Sunday and pile sandbags alongside it. The temporary structure was completed at about 4 a.m. Monday.
In a flood update Tuesday, B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said officials are "very confident" in the Tiger Dam and the dike repairs in the city.
Highway 1 through Abbotsford was closed because of the dam and the risk of flooding. No reopening estimate has been given, but the region is expected to see the third in a trio of atmospheric rivers on Tuesday.
Drivers are being warned that conditions could change on all highways with the incoming heavy rain.
"Unless it is absolutely necessary, I would encourage you to stay off the roads through this next storm event," Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Monday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.