The flowers at Martin O’Brien’s former home in Grand Forks, BC, are in bloom, though no one lives there to care for them. The whole neighborhood is emptied, down to the fire hydrants and every last piece of pipe above and below the ground. Some houses have been relocated, some have been demolished by rescuers and others, like O’Brien, are to be demolished. The 71-year-old went to save some pansies. “My pansies are beautiful and the tulips are already opening,” he said, digging them out and putting them in a pot on the small balcony of the new apartment he found in the nursing home a few minutes away. O’Brien’s home was one of almost 90 properties purchased or expropriated from the city after May floods 2018 which flooded the North Ruckle neighborhood and most of Grand Forks city center in the southern interior of BC. In May 2018, North Ruckle suffered severe property damage from severe flooding. A heavy snowstorm and many days of torrential rain caused the local rivers to overflow. (Tina Lovgreen / CBC) After years of resistance, he was one of the last to leave, forced in February when the city expropriated his property. Instead of rebuilding or protecting the neighborhood from future flooding, the Grand Forks has chosen a trail that is likely to become more common as sea levels rise and the weather becomes more extreme due to climate change. It is called “managed retreat” and means that people, their neighborhood and all the dreams they had for the land must leave – to return the area to a natural floodplain. “It was a kind of shock to the whole neighborhood to see that we were going to be eradicated,” said O’Brien, sitting on the porch of his former home. “I have been here for 30 years, but there have been some who have been here all their lives.” He remains optimistic about the situation, but the process has been painful for the Grand Forks. Now, other cities of BC. – including Abbotsford, who is due to announce his plan on Monday – are forced to consider retreat management as they recover from last November’s extreme floods and mud landslides and prepare for what follows. A road sinks in water during a flood in Abbotsford, BC on November 15, 2021. On Monday, the city says staff will present a plan to City Council on how to rebuild from these floods and prepare for future hazards. (Ben Nelms / CBC)

“Feeling of mourning”

As climate change threatens residents and infrastructure, more people will be forced to relocate. ONE study 2019 published in Nature estimates that, without urgent emission cuts, approximately 300 million people are vulnerable to rising seawater worldwide. In Canada, managed retreat has been used in the past in places where the likelihood of recurrent flooding is so high that it was considered the best option, e.g. High River, Alta., and Gatineau, Que. In Grand Forks, Mayor Brian Taylor says that when the waters receded, the problems did not subside. “We really needed to have a solution that was long-term, that supporting an embankment here or there or changing a few things did not give us that security as a community as we move into this new climate uncertainty we needed,” he said. . They decided to eliminate the neighborhood to allow the nearby Kettle and Granby Rivers to overflow and build new crossing systems to protect the city center and other areas. The idea was controversial and led to protests, especially when residents were informed that the compensation they would receive would be based on the post-flood value of their properties. The city eventually collected compensation from the residents, to reduce the blow, although it had to have a deficit to do so. Beyond the money, Taylor said, it was a painstaking process for friends and neighbors to suffer. “This was a community. This was a group of people who knew each other, supported each other,” he said, standing on the banks of the Kettle River, next to one of the houses. “There is a sense of mourning.” Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor says many residents are happy to see work being done on the mitigation project, but that it was a difficult process to get here. (Curtis Allen / CBC) O’Brien said the grief was exacerbated by the way the neighborhood was uprooted, without enough for alternative housing and financial, legal and even traumatic support. It left many feeling like just a number, he said. “They talked about durability as if it were something like a common denominator. Everyone had it and everyone had the same amount. That is not the case,” he said. He hopes there are lessons to be learned from his community, whose flood mitigation plan is seen by some as a precedent in the province. Grand Forks recently sent calls from other cities devastated by floods and mudslides last November, which destroyed highways and saw up to 20,000 people flee their homes. The Abbotsford Sumas Prairie flood lasted for three weeks, destroying blackberries and other crops and killing thousands of animals. Here, the flooded farmland appears on December 3, 2021. (Maggie MacPherson / CBC)

Abbotsford is considering a managed retreat

In Abbotsford, 70 miles east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley, November flooding blocked Highway 1 and covered Sumas Prairie, a rich farmland that produces half of the province’s milk, eggs and dairy products. The mayor of Abbotsford said repairs and improvements made after last year’s floods left residents better protected than before, but more needs to be done, especially when we take into account climate change. “We could experience it again in November, and that’s a concern, a big concern, which is why we are pushing so hard to develop this plan,” said Henry Braun. Everything is complicated by the fact that much of the Sumas meadow was once a lake, until it dried up in the 1920s to create some of the most valuable farmland in the province. A series of embankments and a pumping station work day and night to keep the lake out. Barrowtown Pump Station in Abbotsford on December 10, 2021. During the flood, he was rescued by a group of volunteers who made sandbags to ensure it would not flood and stop working. (Ben Nelms / CBC) The city consulted with the residents about four options ranging from $ 200 million to $ 2.8 billion:

Option 1: Pump station upgrades and embankment repairs damaged in November. Option 2: All of the above, plus an additional pumping station on the Sumas River. Option 3: All of the above, as well as the extension of the flood pipeline by shifting embankments, which may require the purchase of real estate within it and the extension of embankments along the border. Option 4: All of the above, except for a narrower floodplain and three additional pumping stations.

On Monday, the city said staff would suggest a mix of options 2, 3 and 4 – the latter being the one most Sumas prairie residents prefer. Details and price have not been published, but will include crossing the border and four new pumping stations. Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun says flood mitigation should have improved decades ago. In addition to the options his city has proposed, he wants cooperation from other levels of government on things like dredging rivers. (Dillon Hodgin / CBC) Options 3 and 4, which will be part of the proposed plan, include the possibility of a managed retreat with the purchase of certain properties. The city does not say now how many properties could be affected. “If you are one of these farmers, that falls on their ears. I had some challenging discussions, but our overall function as a council is to protect our citizens and the rural community,” Braun said. “There are a lot of things being played here at the same time.” Kuldeep Gill does not like what he sees. “I do not like any idea that the city said,” said Gill, overlooking his 14-acre farm. “I do not want anyone to touch my berry to put a pond or anything here. I do not want that.” Kuldeep Gill worries that his farm may need to be purchased to turn it into a floodplain. The city wants to consider other options, such as better maintenance of ditches and culverts to help prevent future flooding. (Susana da Silva / CBC) He bought his property seven years ago and spent millions on a new home. In November his fields were under a meter of water. “This is my dream [retire] “I want to stay in this quiet area and my land,” he said. Young raspberry bushes damaged by last year’s floods. (Susana da Silva / CBC)

To bring back the lake?

However, some worry that the options being considered are not enough, giving rivers a chance to rise. Tamsin Lyle, an engineer and flood management consultant, has been studying floods in the area for more than two decades. “The choices that are currently on the table are largely focused on the status quo – doing things we have done for the last 50 years, but making it a little bigger.” Lyle says she recognizes the urgency, but fears that politicians will be pressured to act without considering the major implications – from the fish habitat to the US border policy. “It can be very fast because we rely on things we know have not worked in the past,” he said. “We have to look at the large toolbox of our choices.” For her, this raises the question of whether the former Sumas Lake should be allowed to flood the Sumas meadow again. CLOCKS 100 years ago, Sumas Prairie was a lake and could be again:

The 100-year sentence that contributed to the flood in Abbotsford, BC

More than 100 years ago, a lake outside the present-day Abbotsford area, BC, was drained to create lucrative arable land. Many say that this decision contributes significantly to the catastrophic floods. The local first nations also want to see a process that brings everyone to the table. Tyrone McNeil heads the Stó: lō tribe council, representing …