Expected pump station failure in Abbotsford, B.C., prompts urgent warning to residents under evacuation orders

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Abbotsford officials are sharing an update Wednesday morning on the flooding situation in Abbotsford. Follow Wednesday's developing coverage here.

Officials in Abbotsford, B.C., have issued an urgent warning to residents under an evacuation order in the Sumas Prairie that "catastrophic" flooding is expected in the area.

The city sounded the alarm Tuesday night that the Barrowtown Pump Station is at risk of being overwhelmed, which would see even more water flow into the already flooded Sumas Prairie.

"You need to leave immediately," Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun urged residents at an emergency news conference at 9 p.m. "If you can't leave, please call 911 for support."

Water is also flowing down from Sumas Mountain, exacerbating an already challenging situation, according to officials.

First responders believe there are about 300 people who remain in the evacuated area, spread over a couple hundred different properties.

That includes an unconfirmed number who require water rescue due to previous flooding from the intense storm that bombarded the province on Sunday and Monday.

The city described the Barrowtown Pump Station as a "critical piece of infrastructure" preventing Sumas Lake from reforming, and said the failure of even one of its four pumps would result in quickly rising water levels in the Sumas Prairie, which has been under an evacuation order since Tuesday morning.

Braun said Abbotsford's engineering team is working hard to keep the pump station operational, but that there's no telling how long they will be able to sustain it.

"If there is an overflow into the pump station – that water level is now about a metre below – this situation will become critical very quickly," the mayor said. "Even at four pumps running full bore, that water has continued to rise."

Residents have been told to abandon any efforts to save livestock and get out while they're able. The mayor said evacuees would be "incredibly surprised" at how rapidly the situation would worsen following a pump station failure.

"There's nowhere for that water to go," Braun said. "I know it's hard for farmers to leave their livestock, but people's lives are more important to me right now than livestock and chickens."

Firefighters said they are also working with staff from neighbouring Chilliwack to construct a sandbag wall around the pump station that would buy some time in the event of a pump failure. They're also trying to bring in additional pumps, as well as more helicopters to help carry people to safety.

Abbotsford Police Chief Mike Serr said a co-ordinated rescue effort is underway, but that the situation is "changing literally by the minute."

"We've reached out to provincial, federal resources to support us. We have search and rescue resources coming in from across the Lower Mainland to help," Serr said. "We're getting to all the people as fast as we can to support them and to support their families."

Abbotsford remains under a local state of emergency issued Monday, and B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation has advised the public to avoid travelling to the city and its surrounding areas due to extensive flood damage to roadways.

Prior to Tuesday night, residents were already working together to help stranded families evacuate. Authorities said some had used power boats to haul cows to dry ground.