‘We’re going to come back from it’

The Bouwman family is counting its blessings after a devastating flood decimated British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.

“We got out. We’re safe. We didn’t lose animals,” said Grant Bouwman, who operates the Mardelen Holsteins Ltd. dairy farm with his wife, Amanda, in Yarrow, B.C., situated between Abbotsford and Chilliwack.

“We’re going to have a heck of a cleanup and we’re going to come back from it.”

The situation could have been far worse in the aftermath of what AccuWeather has deemed a “once-in-500-year flood” caused by as much as 254 millimetres of rain falling in parts of British Columbia and Washington state.

With the help of many local farmers they were able to get all 450 of their Holstein cows to safety, including 200 milking cows.

Grant said moving the herd was a gut-wrenching decision because at the time the floodwaters had not yet reached their farm, located on the eastern edge of what was once Sumas Lake.

On the morning of Nov. 16 Grant was standing in water up to the top of his gumboots helping move cattle out of his father-in-law’s flooded dairy barn in Sumas Prairie when he learned that the Sumas dike had been breached, sending floodwater toward his own dairy in Yarrow.

“I had to leave him to go move my own cows, and that’s a hard thing to do because it used to be all his cows and he needs help, but you know you’ve got to get your cows out too,” he said.

Amanda had not yet heard that the dike had blown and was initially reluctant to uproot their entire operation.

“I was like, ‘Grant, there’s green grass, there’s no water, the dikes are fine. There’s no panic,’” she said.

Grant was also hesitant to move. Emotions were clouding his judgment. It took some coaxing from friends and family to make what turned out to be the correct decision.

He got on the phone and started calling friends and neighbours, and by 6 p.m. all of their cattle had been dispersed to seven farms in the surrounding area.

Most of the milking cows ended up at the former Blossom Dairy near Chilliwack owned by the Goertzen family. The family had left the business a year-and-a-half ago and had an empty barn.

Even as late as the morning of Nov. 17 Grant was still second-guessing himself. However, by evening the flood was rapidly approaching their land, and by Nov. 18 the farm was deluged.

There was water streaming into the feed alleys and stalls, calf barns were floating and it was up to his knees in the basement of the house.

“It’s dirty water. It’s manure water,” he said.

There will be plenty of cleanup ahead when the floodwater eventually recedes. Stalls will need to be cleaned and equipment in the milking parlor will have to be serviced to make sure it is running properly before he can bring the cows back home.

The basement needs to be gutted, thoroughly cleansed and rebuilt. Their four children, age six to 12, lost some of their treasures to the flood.

“I know it’s just stuff, but they’re like, ‘but Mom, I liked my stuff. I don’t want new stuff,’ ” said Amanda.

Grant said the hardest part of the ordeal has been watching the mental toll it took on their children.

“For any kid, home is a safe place. To see it surrounded by water or under water, not seeing it as a safe place for cows or them, it changes their perspective,” he said.

It was an unpleasant reality check for the children, but the crisis also provided an invaluable life lesson about the kindness and generosity of the community in which they live.

“The goodness of people comes out in so many ways,” said Grant.

“There is a lot of good in humanity, and it is so wonderful to see.”

Amanda and the kids moved in with her sister’s family in Chilliwack, who eventually had to accommodate the rest of her extended family as well.

“There were 17 of us in a three-bedroom house. It was quite an experience,” said Amanda.

Grant moved in with his brother’s family in a different part of Chilliwack to be closer to the cows.

It wasn’t just family lending a hand. Fellow farmers used their trailers and trucks to haul cattle to safety and agreed to take in the animals, even if they could only handle five cows.

“People I’ve never even met before were helping us out, taking cattle and more than happy to mix a load of feed so the cattle would settle well,” said Grant.

There were countless stories of people who jeopardized their health and safety to rescue other farmers’ animals that were at risk of drowning in water that was more than two metres deep in places.

“The amount of people that jumped in the water and got soaking wet and freezing cold to save livestock is just tremendous,” he said.

Church groups, school teachers and complete strangers have been reaching out as well.

“Tragedy is what pulls communities together, and man, you feel it,” said Amanda.

One young man from the neighboring community of Greendale showed up out of the blue and asked Grant’s brother if there was any way he could contribute. He ended up hauling hay off of the farm because he had his Class 1 drivers license.

“I never met the guy before but he just really wanted to help,” said Grant.

The couple expects it will be a year before everything is back to normal. Milk production is way down because dairy cows don’t like being uprooted. Breeding and calving cycles have been disrupted.

Grant has no clue what if anything insurance will cover. He worries the flood may be deemed an act of God.

However, their milk is once again making its way to market instead of being dumped, and in a few weeks their cows could be returning home after surviving the worst flood in half a millennium.

Amanda is just thankful that they still have a house and barns and cattle because many neighbours do not.

“As hard as it is, we have each other, and we know God is watching over us and he’s going to bless us,” she said.