Resilience far stronger than the rains in one Sumas Prairie community
Cam Stuart is not quite sure where to start.
The pastor of the community church in Arnold, B.C., a hamlet of a few hundred on the western edge of Sumas Prairie, is still processing the trauma, he says, from floodwaters that have barely receded.
He wants to show me the devastation.
But more than that, he wants to show me hope.
“It’s amazing to see people just showing up out of nowhere saying how can we help,” Stuart says.
“The community spirit is just phenomenal.”
We start behind the church, which you might call the Lord’s landfill.
Trailer after trailer pulls up, dumping ruined washers and dryers, mattresses and sofas, and loads of drywall turned to powder.
A broken guitar, a basketball hoop, a pink-and-purple child’s bike have all become part of the pile.
Amidst all the stuff that couldn’t be salvaged, we meet Jared Harp and Seth O’Brien, volunteers with access to excavators and trucks.
Just this morning they’ve hauled eight loads elsewhere.
The other day they were filling sandbags.
They’re doing whatever they can, Harp says, however they can, to help.
“This is a community driven effort,” O’Brien adds. “We can wait around forever, but better just to put your shoulder to the wheel at get it done.”
Nearby, volunteers man a command post of sorts, with hot chicken soup, home-baked goods and coffee.
A big whiteboard lists what they need more of: heaters, storage bins and hugs.
“It’s going to be a long journey, but I think people know together they can get through this,” Stuart tells me.
To see that spirit first hand, Stuart takes us down a road covered with generators and hoses to meet Mike and Teresa Floris.
They’ve lived here 12 years, we learn, and had just hours to get out.
Out front in the newly-born grass, their goats Boots, Sneakers, and baby Yoshi look happy and healthy.
Sandbags ring the back patio.
There’s a second round on the way.
Teresa takes us in.
It’s a breath-taking sight.
The water reached about one metre up, she points out.
Coats are still on hooks.
Shelves still have books and pictures.
But everything below waist-level has been wiped out.
“We’re taking it one step at a time, but in all honesty, I am so thankful, with everybody that came here to help us,” Teresa says.
Then uses another word: blessed.
Blessed.
In the biggest flooding disaster of our times.
“Everybody has come to help us, everybody has come together, everybody has stepped in,” she tells me.
“What I’m hearing and seeing is hope,” Stuart adds. “People have been given hope.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
There's progress reported in Gaza truce talks, but Israel downplays chances of ending war with Hamas
A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported "noticeable progress" in cease-fire talks with Israel, though an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in Gaza.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.