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1891-2011
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T H U R S D AY, J U N E 9 , 2 0 1 1
Crash claims couple Robert Freeman Chilliwack Progress A Chilliwack man and woman were killed when their vehicle left Highway 1 and plunged into the Vedder Canal early Wednesday morning. The two people, in their mid50s, were heading east at the time of the 4:45 a.m. accident. “For whatever reason, they left the road just prior to the cement barriers and ended up in the canal between the two bridges,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Jim Simmill at Fraser Valley Traffic Services. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Most accidents at the bridge over the canal have involved westbound, rather than eastbound, traffic. The names of the victims are not being released until families are notified by police. Early reports said the two people were inside the vehicle when it was pulled from the water.
Emergency crews were on scene Wednesday morning on Highway 1 at the Vedder Canal where this car went off the road and into the water at about 5 a.m. Pictured above is the west end of the bridge. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Flood Watch: Residents’ safety is the priority: city Jennifer Feinberg The Progress City officials will “work hard” to assist residents living outside the dike, who may be affected by freshet flooding, pledged Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz. This is even though the residents are technically responsible for flood and erosion protection themselves. A total of 42 homes and eight industrial operations are located outside the city dike, as well as farms and First Nations.
City officials coordinated the filling of 8,000 sandbags to protect a residence on Ballam Road last week, and more were being filled at another home on Wednesday. Several residents whose properties may be or were impacted, showed up at city hall Tuesday for the council meeting, sitting in the back rows to hear the city’s plan of action. At the end of the meeting, Mayor Gaetz addressed the residents’ request to meet in person with city officials. “Everyone is working hard to
make that happen,” she told them, as they filed out of council chambers at city hall. Properties safely behind the city’s main dike are not at imminent risk for flooding in Chilliwack, but it all depends on the weather in the next while. City officials to date have notified the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP), and are monitoring conditions daily. They will also be looking for sources of funding to pay for response and recovery efforts, despite the fact that the provincial
response mandate favours protecting human life over land. “The priority is to ensure the safety of those residents in the affected floodplain area,” Tara Friesen, assistant manager of environmental services for the city, said in an updated presentation. A portion of McSween Road also slumped and had water flowing over it this week. In response, the city had that portion of the road raised “to force the water back toward the river,” she said.
The Fraser River was measured at 5.5 metres at the Mission bridge, or “bank full” conditions on Wednesday. That could mean more flooding in unprotected areas, and will prompt regular dike patrols. The “isolated flooding” near Carey Point (Chilliwack Progress, June 9) was actually caused by ongoing erosion that’s very difficult to mitigate, said Friesen. In fact, the berm that failed and caused the flooding was never under the protection afforded by the city’s Continued: RIVER/ p9
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