Just off the TransCanada Highway in Abbotsford, B.C., dozens of businesses and hundreds of homes were destroyed in the devastating flooding from late last year and have not yet received any financial assistance.
At the peak of the emergency, nearly 15,000 people fled their homes as floodwaters shut down major highways and destroyed vast farmland.
“You know everybody’s got similar stories, traumatic storiesxjmtzyw,” Arthur Deleeuw, a victim of the floods, told CTV National News.
Deleeuw is a life-long farmer. He’s still struggling to rebuild and reclaim his livelihood.
“We have a free range chicken operation and we lost all of them,” he said.
The road to recovery after devastating floods in British Columbia last year has been long and extremely difficult for many people hard hit by the disaster.
More than two months after extreme rain destroyed highways, damaged communities and swamped farmland, some cities are still under a local state of emergency.
Abbotsford and its hard hit Prairie Region is still in response mode and has only been able to respond to half of the more than 300 damaged buildings and properties
The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates the total insured damage to be more than $450 million, making the flooding the most costly severe weather event in B.C.’s history.
“People are lost,” Allison Arends, a dairy farmer in the Sumas Prairie region, said. “People don’t have money coming in right now.”
For months now, Arends has helped run a shop, located on her dairy farm. It supplies those in need with donated goods such as groceries and clothing.
“There are so many that are not in their homes, living in other places with family, lots of people still in hotels,” she said.
Many flood victims are still waiting for recovery funds promised by the B.C. government.
“The delay in payment for helping people rebuild and restore is pathetic,” Joanne Beaulieu, a Sumas Prairie resident, told CTV National News.
After the flooding, there was a surge in applications for disaster assistance and with that, the province says claims are taking longer to process.
Jenny Winkelhorst, another flood victim, says residents feel “frustrated” and “emotional.”
“The only support we’ve had is through community,” she said.
The provincial government is looking to add more staff streamline the funding process, but until then, it seems residents will be left waiting.
