B.C. flood effects being tallied as recovery begins

Provincial and federal officials are looking at how to best get financial help to British Columbia producers hit by flooding that has damaged their property and killed hundreds of thousands of farm animals.

“Our hearts continue to be with the folks that are struggling with the very difficult situations that are happening right now,” B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said during a news conference Dec. 3.

She joined federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau at a roundtable discussion Dec. 2 with about 60 stakeholders representing many of the farm sectors affected by the flooding.

“These conversations give us a better picture when it comes to putting an AgriRecovery program together, and we will continue to get that finalized as soon as possible,” Popham said Dec. 3.

It will mark the second time in only a few months that the program has been triggered in B.C. It was implemented in September to help producers hit by record-breaking heat waves and wildfires that destroyed the village of Lytton on June 30.

“We’ve been dealing with (the COVID-19) pandemic for almost two years,” said Amanda Brittain, chief information officer of the B.C. Poultry Association.

“We had a heat dome here in B.C., we had terrible forest fires, and now the flood … Everybody is really feeling it, so we want to make sure nobody is left to deal with anxiety or stress by themselves. We want to make sure everybody knows that there are mental health resources available.”

Popham said Dec. 2. about 819 farms remained under evacuation. “We know at this point there are 628,000 poultry reported dead, 420 dairy cattle deceased and approximately 12,000 hogs – and also of note, there (are) 110 beehives that have been submerged.”

Farmers hit by flooding in B.C. ranged from beef producers and flower growers to fish farmers. It also affected about 700 acres of blueberries in Sumas Prairie, with waters reaching depths of more than eight feet, she said. “And some are still under quite heavy amounts of water.”

As a result, officials are allowing participation in the federal-provincial AgriStability program for 2021, which will help farmers who experienced declines due to crop or livestock loss. “The late participation means that B.C. farmers that are not currently enrolled for 2021 can now enroll, and they can enroll up to Dec. 1, 2022.”

The threat of further flooding due to rainfall from successive atmospheric river events caused the provincial government to extend B.C.’s state of emergency to the end of the day on Dec. 14.

The measure was first implemented on Nov. 17 following flooding that severed much of the province’s road and rail links, leaving many farmers unable to ship their products and forcing them to scramble to get feed, water and veterinary care for their animals.

“We are now on the other end of this series of intense storms, and the latest events were thankfully not as severe as forecast,” B.C. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming said Dec. 3. The province’s River Forecast Centre is taking down many of its advisories, with river levels expected to continue to drop, he added.

“Many flood evacuation orders and road closures remain in place. However, the worst weather now appears to be behind us and I think we’re all grateful for that.”

The disaster particularly affected the Sumas Prairie area in the Fraser Valley near Abbotsford, which is the site of a former lake drained to create farmland in the 1920s. It has temporarily returned to being a “massive lake,” said Brittain.

“It’s four-and-a-half kilometers in diameter and it’s a metre-and-a-half deep, so that is where people’s farms are, so it’s quite stunning to see the devastation of all that water.”

As the water slowly ebbs, producers are faced with the daunting task of cleaning up flood-damaged property contaminated by everything from fuel and manure to animal carcasses.

Popham and Bibeau plan to tour the Fraser Valley, which is the location of much of the province’s dairy, poultry and egg sectors. “The weather looks to be a bit more dry over the next couple days, which will be critical for the removal of carcasses,” Popham said Dec. 2.

“The work by farmers and volunteers and companies to clean out barns and to remove those animals continues to be extremely heartbreaking, and I request that folks remain empathetic and caring in their comments as they continue to do this very difficult work.”

However, Popham said Dec. 3 she was informed that 97 percent of laying chickens survived within the evacuation zone, along with 98 percent of the dairy cows from Sumas Prairie. About 6,000 cows were evacuated to other farms in the Abbotsford, Agassiz and Chilliwack areas.

“This is really due to farmers working together and communities making sure that they have those farmers’ backs.”

She said a dairy farmer who spent 48 hours feeding his cows hay while they stood neck-deep in water “let me know that as soon as the waters were able to recede enough, the Abbotsford Rugby Association came in and helped him clean up those barns.”

Besides cleaning hundreds of stalls, they “even assisted the family, removing stuff from their soggy basement, and after they did that, they moved on to help other farmers. I’ve also heard that the hockey team did the same thing.”

Popham said Dec. 2 said a farmer who lost his home told her he went to a Canadian Tire to pick up a pair of gloves, along with a frying pan so he could make breakfast.

“And a staff person came over and asked him to go to customer service, and when he got there, he was told there’d be no charge and they wished him well. These are the stories that help us all carry on.”

Both the federal and provincial governments were matching donations to flood relief by the Canadian Red Cross, tripling the value of each person’s donation. B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said Nov. 28 that $2.25 million had been distributed to British Columbians evacuated due to the flooding.

The B.C. Dairy Association said more than $350,000 had been donated as of Nov. 30 to help affected dairy farmers. “Once the worst of the flooding emergency is over, it will be determined how to best distribute the financial contributions.”

Although many producers had been forced to dump their milk due to road closures caused by the flooding, more than 90 percent of production was being picked up as of Dec. 2 as transportation routes reopened.

However, the lack of sufficient feed during the height of the crisis has affected how much cows were able to produce at the farm near Agassiz, B.C., of Holger Schwichtenberg, chair of the B.C. Dairy Association.

“You know, our cows, they were on half rations for 10 days because there was very little grain concentrate available because the highways were washed out. They’re slowly coming back, but they’re not back to their previous levels yet.” He did not know if it would be permanent. “I’ve never had to do this,” he said, adding he is one of the “lucky ones … I mean, I had to have my cows on half ration. I didn’t have to move anybody.”

doug.ferguson@producer.com