The latest news on mudslides and flooding in British Columbia (all times Eastern):
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10:23
Federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the federal government is sending Canadian Forces personnel to help with evacuation efforts in B.C.
A social media message from Blair says a deployment has been approved.
The message says air personnel will also help to support supply chain routes, and protect residents against further flooding or landslides.
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9:00 a.m.
Officials in Abbotsford, B.C., will hold another news conference this morning as they urge all residents of the low-lying Sumas Prairie region to get out immediately.
The area, south of Abbotsford, was ordered evacuated Tuesday as high water from neighbouring Washington state pushed the Sumas River over its banks, but the urgency of the evacuation leaped overnight as those waters now threaten a vital pumping station.
Officials say the Barrowtown station keeps water out of what was once Sumas Lake but they say the lake will refill if the station stops pumping and that water from the nearby Fraser River will also begin gushing in.
Mayor Henry Braun says there is a significant risk to life and that everyone in the rural agricultural area must leave because “people’s lives are more important right now than livestock and chickens.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2021.
The Canadian Press
