Raging floodwaters swallow home, trees near Hope, B.C.
Residents of Hope, B.C. have captured video of powerful floodwaters swallowing a home and large trees.
Videos posted to social media show the destruction around Othello Road on Sunday afternoon.
Josh Fleet lives in Hope and was one of the residents who stood by watching it all unfold.
“It’s just devastating to see the house gone like that,” Fleet told CTV News Vancouver. "In a matter of 12 hours the water came up and just swept away a whole house, just like that.”
According to Environment Canada, Hope received 120 millimetres of rain over the weekend and is still under a local state of emergency.
Mayor Peter Robb said a number of properties are under an evacuation alert ahead of Tuesday’s rain event.
“The water level (was) pretty high last night so we wanted to make sure we had it (state of emergency) in place in case we had to move those folks out of there,” Robb said. “Now the worry is, what will tomorrow and the next day bring - weather-wise.”
On Monday, floodwaters had receded enough for Highway 3 to reopen from Hope to Princeton, though transportation minister Rob Fleming described the situation as “constantly evolving."
Princeton prepares
Over the weekend army personnel worked to secure a dike in Princeton, using sandbags to raise the level of it higher.
Mayor Spencer Coyne said that work had finished and crews were leaving the city Monday afternoon.
“The work they did was priceless for us,” Coyne said. “If we didn’t have that I don't know what state I’d be in to be honest.”
With another rain system approaching Tuesday, Coyne said no one would “breathe easy” until it had passed.
Merritt prepares
Army personnel were still on the ground in Merritt on Monday reinforcing the banks of the Coldwater River.
According to the city’s information officer Greg Lowis, there was no overland flooding through the weekend, allowing the city to allow day access again for properties south of Nicola Avenue.
The city is currently allowing residents in hard-hit areas to return to their properties in phases. Those in phase three can only access their homes between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., while it’s still too dangerous for people to enter the area classified as phase four.
Lowis believes the city is as prepared as it can be ahead of Tuesday’s rain, but said if too much water comes down there’s nothing people can do aside from “get out of the way.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.