November 16, 2021 Flooded Out

Raging storms struck the BC coast this past weekend. An epic rainstorm dropped over 200 mm of water on an already drenched landscape. That’s almost eight inches of liquid in three days of continual downpour. 

Epic rains, followed by epic disaster.

The experts predicted a heavy rainfall warning for the coast of BC. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the damage that the storm would inflict on the roads and lives of the lower mainland and much of BC and Western Canada. 

We picked a heck of a weekend to go to Vancouver. 

Probably the worst time to travel to the coast and here we were – stranded.

All roads into and out of Vancouver through Canada were closed. Some of them have been destroyed in more than one spot and will need weeks if not months to recover. 

And an already fragile supply chain has been ground to a halt. Nothing can come into Vancouver and more importantly, nothing can get out of Vancouver to the rest of Canada.

Including us.

We came and watched the Stamps and Lions play a CFL game on Friday, Saturday we went to the island to see my mom with my kid. Sunday was a shopping day for my daughter and I. It would turn out to be a fateful decision to stay and shop instead of strike out on the road.

We arrived at the mall at 11 am and enjoyed a daddy-daughter connection stalking the shops of the Tsawassen Mills mall. It was a great time and we enjoyed roaming the stores. I even learned a bit of patience for watching my teenage daughter try on clothes. 

By 1:00 pm I was getting tired so I waited outside a store while my kid went in. It was then that I checked Castanet news to see what was going on. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The Coquihalla was closed. A massive mudslide had taken out a section of the highway and right away I knew we were in for a long trip home. The DriveBC website said there would be an update at 1:30 pm. I called my wife and we decided to wait for the update until she came to get us. 

At 1:45 I looked and saw the news.

It was bad.

Now highway 1 was closed due to a mudslide as well. Krista and I talked and figured it was best to stay put. My kid pleaded for us to go any way we could. But it was looking bad and the rain kept pouring down.

The deluge came more and more. It would turn out to be a good choice hanging tight.

Hiway 99 though Whster was considered briefly as a way home. But the road was windy and treacherous. Every fibre of my being said to avoid the infamous Duffy Lake Road.

So we hunkered down at our friend Cathryn’s and waited to see if the roads would open. When we got back to our friend’s place we read about the two mudslides on highway 7 – the detour created because the number 1 was closed.

If we’d had gone we probably would have ended up on the highway for the night sleeping in our car. Three hundred cars were trapped by the two slides and Hope was now cut off from the world because another landslide wiped out highway 3. So now highway 1, 5, 3, and 7 were blocked by the raging waters of the tumultuous rains that continued to rush down the mountainsides.

By morning it became apparent that highway 99 through Whistler was the only way out of the lower mainland for us. Still every fibre of my being railed against the idea. It would turn out to be fortunate for us that we stayed in Surrey. 

A massive slide struck Highway 99 and took seven to ten vehicles off the road with it. As they clean up the mess, bodies have been recovered. I shudder to think what may have happened to us if we were driving the winding Duffy Lake Road when the mountain let go. The damage and death toll has yet to be counted.

We needed to get going and move closer to the highway in hopes of getting on the road as soon as it was open. Our friends and neighbours the Big Boarder and the healthcare worker happened to be in town at the same time. Since we were all stranded, why not meet up and stay at the same hotel – so we did.

Emotional support is a good thing in times like this,

The sun came out today and kissed the soaked and drowned world. By the time it was over, Abbotsford, Merrit, and Princeton were underwater. And so was over 80 km of the TransCanada Highway. 

There was no way to get home on Canadian soil.

We were cut off and had no real idea when the road will open to traffic, The only way home was through the USA. I had the passports in my hand when we left home and thought about bringing them. I decided there was no need – we wouldn’t go into the US. So I put them in a drawer and forgot about them. Now we will go to the border and ask to use the American roads to go back home. We want to be in our own beds. 

We waited for the floodwaters to recede and reflected on 2020, and 2021. It has been a time of constantly sheltering from the storm and taking the safe way. 

By staying off the road and listening to the experts we were able to stay safe in the midst of nature’s fury and survive. Now we look to take the long way home through a foreign country. 

We are the lucky ones with an option still. We have no choice but to hope we can make it through. At least we are safe and dry. I hope those still trapped can stay safe as well. I hope we can all make it home and this year ends without any more disasters.