Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who came out over the last two days, the Katzie First Nation are prepared for possible flooding.
All 18,000 sandbags have been filled and stacked around important infrastructure on Katzie properties. No more volunteers are needed at this time.
Local residents are now moving items from their yards that could float away, or cause environmental damage, and they are extremely grateful for the help, especially from the Langley students who put in hours of effort, said Debbie Miller, Chief Negotiator for the Katzie First Nation.
READ MORE: Army of students help Katzie, Kwantlen First Nation prepare for floods
@sd35wgss Edge students helping Katzie First Nation with flood protection pic.twitter.com/lugudC6CSD
— Eric Balzarini (@ebalzarini) May 18, 2018
Miller is hopeful the community will come out to help again with cleanup efforts, after the flood alert has passed.
“Although we’ve gotten support to sandbag and help protect us from the water, sometimes where we’re really lacking support is the cleanup afterwards, because now we’re left with infrastructure that’s been sandbagged, and it takes just as much effort to remove sandbags as it does to place them,” Miller said.
“So we would hope and ask that some people would come back and help support us as we get rid of our temporary flood protection.”
READ MORE: Katzie First Nation seeks sandbagging volunteers in Langley, Pitt Meadows and Surrey
As of Friday afternoon, the Mission gauge shows Fraser River levels at 5.9 metres, and the water levels are forecast to rise. An emergency alert for unprotected areas of Northwest Langley remains in place from the Township of Langley.
According to the River Forecast Centre, the rising river levels are expected to continue into next week, due to the hot weather expected in the coming days.
“Flows are expected to continue to rise into the weekend, with flows at Hope expected to reach the 11,500-12,000 m3/s range this weekend and into next week,” a May 18 high streamflow advisory states.
“Water levels forecast at Mission of 6.0 m on May 18, 6.4 m on May 20 (similar to peak water levels in 2012) and up to 6.57 m on May 21.”
