CANMORE, ALTA. – For many Canadians, seeing images of the aftermath of flooding in British Columbia has been shocking, both in terms of the unprecedented number of people affected and the catastrophic damage caused by the relentless rainfall.
But those who survived the worst of the storm are still grappling with their experience – many of which put their lives in danger.
CTV News spoke to many residents of British Columbia affected by the flooding, including those who survived the appalling mudslide on Highway 7. Here is their experience in their own words.
“IT looked like an undead”
Robert Doolan was returning to White Rock, BC from the Lakes Region with his niece when road closures forced them to reorient themselves to Highway 7 between Hope and Agassiz, BC.
“Something told me to slow down, and I’m glad we did. We would have been down the slide otherwise, ”he told CTV News Channel on Tuesday.
“Everything around us started to shake and it went from seeing tail lights to a dark competition ahead of us. There were two cars in front of us… I didn’t understand what was going on, they were turning around.
It took Doolan several moments to figure out what had happened – a mudslide had swept several cars past them off the road.
“We jumped out of the truck. There were people screaming for help, there were two cars we could see… everything was blurry, ”he explained.
“The people who managed to get out of the vehicle… I can’t believe they even got out. Honestly, it looked like the walking dead coming out of that vehicle. “
Trapped between an unstable hill and the Fraser River, Doolan helped a couple, Ken and Laurie, whose car had been blown down the slide, keeping them safe and warm in his vehicle overnight while awaiting rescue.
“It was horrible. We weren’t safe, I didn’t sleep at all. Laurie was coughing mud from her lungs. No one could reach us, we were stranded on both sides, ”he said. “We were completely helpless.”
Doolan and his niece were then evacuated by plane and accommodated in Agassiz. More than 300 people were eventually rescued along the highway.
” I can not sleep. Apparently they didn’t evacuate everyone. We were lucky… we were in the second helicopter. But I felt bad getting on that helicopter… maybe there were some people who deserved more than us, ”he said.
“I REMEMBER THE SOUND”
Chelsea Hughes also found herself stranded in the Highway 7 mudslide, forced to spend the night on the roof of her car after being pushed out of the road in the slide.
“I felt like it was going in slow motion, but it was also over before I knew it,” she told CTV Vancouver. “I remember the sound of just being pushed through the dirt.”
Hughes, who was partially submerged in a swampy area under the road, was able to escape through her broken sunroof. Along with the other people around her, she kept in touch with first responders through the night while waiting to be rescued.
“Last night I was trying to go to bed and I could just hear it,” she said, starting to cry. “It was so scary, just sitting on our cars in the swamp we could hear more landslides. The roar of the falling earth and the creak of the trees… we didn’t know if it was coming back to us.
“I NATAIS LITERALLY IN THE BACKYARD”
In Yarrow, British Columbia, Jordan Jongema watched for hours as his childhood home was quickly engulfed in flood waters.
After delaying his evacuation earlier in the day, Jongema realized mid-afternoon that he would not be able to navigate the flooded roads.
“I wouldn’t say it was gradual… it was quick. I made a little notch in my kitchen wall and every 30 minutes it was going up about an inch. At midnight I was wading. in the kitchen [it was] to my hips, ”he told CTV News.
“I was literally swimming in the garden… it’s like a Hollywood scenario.”
When the water reached the window of his childhood bedroom on the second floor, Jongema decided to put some of his belongings on the roof of the house in an attempt to save them.
It was not until 3:30 am that he heard a boat moving up the flooded road coming to his aid.
‘I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING’
Barkad Khan and his family, his wife Afreen and daughters Mahveen and Mahira, had only 10 minutes to get out before their home in Merritt, BC, flooded.
“It’s gone. Sub. It’s all gone. I have nothing left. Nothing to return to,” said Khan, who moved to Merritt in March from Calgary, told The Canadian Press.
With just enough time to throw a few clothes in a single suitcase and leave, Khan says he had to borrow money from friends to accommodate his family in a hotel, on several occasions by officials he will have to wait for. a phonecall. in order to get help.
“I’ve come here now and you know what he’s saying – if you don’t die, there’s nothing we can do for you. At least show compassion, ”Khan said. “You have no idea how much we’ve lost. We have lost everything. It’s wrong.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
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