'Woken up screaming': Emotional toll after dike warnings ignored prior to November floods

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -

What happened on Sumas Prairie more than five months ago, still haunts residents like Dave Martens.

"There’s been nights where I’ve woken up screaming or thinking my hands (are) hanging off the bed into water, and waking up, not knowing if someone’s breaking into our house again," the poultry farmer said in an interview with CTV News.

The lingering emotional toll comes as Martens, like so many others, continues to try and rebuild his life.

He lost 40,000 chickens during the floods.

The damage to the electrical in his barns is so extensive that he doesn’t expect birds again until the fall.

And the bottom floor of his home is still unliveable.

He says he can’t forget what it was like to return after fleeing the rising water, only to find thieves had looted his family home.

"There’s the whole issue of mental health and things like that that come into play," he said.

Martens and his wife have been farming on the prairie for 32 years.

He’s been around long enough to remember past government reports and studies that raised serious concerns about the potential for floods.

"They suspected that the dikes could fail but nothing was done about it," he said.

One report, done for the provincial government in 2015, found the Sumas dike was "too low" and that its geometry was "substandard." The report authors gave its crest elevation a rating of "unacceptable" and noted that "…overtopping is expected during Nooksack river overflow."

"Governments of all levels can’t keep crying about climate change, taxing us on our gas and our fuel and things like that and then fail to invest those monies back into infrastructure to protect us," Martens said.

Abbotsford also knew about the dikes shortcomings, the city investing in modelling and numerous reports which were then sent to senior levels of government.

The mayor says the city just doesn’t have the billions needed to fix problems.

"Local government just can not do that. It’s an enormous amount of money," said Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun.

"Three billion dollars is like twenty times our tax requisition in a year," he explained.

"There has to be a funding mechanism that funds all this. If that doesn’t happen, these are just wonderful studies that sit on the shelf and gather dust."

Braun said after the floods in 1990, there was a push to get action on the threat of the Nooksack River in Washington state.

"Our goal at that time was to get the Americans on that side of the border to do something," Braun said.

Abbotsford is seeking public input on a flood protection plan. The province says it's committed to working with the city. It’s also working with Washington state.

"I really sense there’s a willingness on both their parts (provincially and federally) to address this," said Braun.

But the question remains about why, if the warnings were there, wasn’t something done sooner?

CTV News, repeatedly requested an interview with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth but were told he was not available.

In a statement, Emergency Management B.C. said that it is “…committed to working with the City of Abbotsford to find a path forward that protects people and communities from future flooding events."

"I’m saddened that it seems like the only way things get addressed is through a catastrophe," said Braun, adding he doesn’t know what more the city could have done without funding.

Martens said ultimately, he believes higher levels of government are responsible for the flood disaster.

"I don’t blame the city. I blame the province and I blame the federal government."

He also blames Canada’s neighbours to the south for not doing enough to prevent a catastrophe.