Farmers and ranchers in British Columbia are dealing with the devastation of flooding and mudslides that are causing feed and milk transportation disruptions, evacuations, and forcing some livestock owners to abandon their animals.
On Tuesday, the City of Abbotsford issued an urgent notice to residents of Sumas Prairie — part of the Fraser Lowland — to evacuate immediately.
“Residents need to place priority on life safety, and not ignore the current evacuation orders that are in place and have been since this morning,” said Mayor of Abbotsford Henry Braun, on Tuesday.
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According to Braun, if any of the four water pumps fails, there will more water coming into Sumas Prairie than they’re capable of pumping.
“If you are still on Sumas Prairie, you need to leave, to get out of the area. I know it’s hard for farmers to leave their livestock, but peoples’ lives are more important to me right now than livestock and chickens. And we will deal with the rest come morning…but we felt we needed to alert our public on Sumas Prairie that this is imminent.”
For up-to-date information on evacuation orders and alerts in B.C., find the regional government or authority website via EmergencyInfoBC.
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