'This is an act of God': Fraser Valley farmer warily watches as waters rise
Ed Mulder seems unusually calm for a guy who’s watching floodwaters nearly lap at his front door.
We found him and his wife, Hester, in hip waders, surveying the newly formed lakes surrounding the only home they’ve known since 1994.
“(We’re) basically in the drain of this prairie here,” Mulder tells me. “So if it comes, it’s going to come fast.”
Tuesday morning, their farm on Sumas Prairie, just over the border from Chilliwack, was one of over 1,000 placed under a mandatory evacuation order.
The highway is cut off both to the east and west. The canals are nearly full. The rivers rushing by.
Their two adult daughters and pets have found their way to friends further afield.
Mulder, his wife, and their 21-year-old son Jake have consciously chose to stay behind.
“Why stay? Help me understand,” I ask him.
“I guess it’s just part of being a farmer,” he says. “Everything we do is based on keeping (our 15,000 chickens) health and happy. And to walk away from that, it’s tough,” he adds, choking back a few tears.
We walk the property line where his front lawn disappears underneath water that’s at least two feet deep in places, and rising.
Mulder points out the wooden stakes he’s placed at the water’s edge: one for Monday afternoon, and another for Tuesday morning, a few feet closer to his door.
He’s waiting for news about the dike along Cole Road.
He’s heard murmurings of a breach, though nothing confirmed. If that happens, he tells me, their fields, their potatoes, their chickens, might be done for.
“If I see it climbing up, say eight inches,” he says, “I’m getting out of here.”
When we send a drone up to get the view from above, we catch a glimpse of his neighbours’ homes, each on their own island.
“This is an act of God,” Mulder says. “We see it on the news, other times, in other places in the world. And this time it’s our turn.”
The family pick-up is ready to go.
Mulder cracks the door open to the back set.
They’ve packed up nearly nothing, yet at the same time, everything.
“Pictures, photo albums, change of clothes,” he says.
“That’s everything?” I ask.
“That’s everything that matters.”
Update: As of 5 p.m. Tuesday the Mulders reported the water level had risen several inches and was pouring over a roadway near their property. Ed Mulder said he thought the farm would be inundated in a matter of minutes. The family has now evacuated to Chilliwack
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.