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 stories,” 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.
