Peace Region slowly recovering after catastrophic June flooding

It's been almost two months since a devastating flood ravaged the Peace Region, stranding communities from power and roads and tearing Highway 97 in half.

Daybreak North checked in with some communities that were hit hard by the June flooding.

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Dawson Creek

Jim Chute, administrative officer for Dawson Creek, said the city has been focused on repairing the multiple culverts that washed away during the storm.

But Chute said the city has yet to replace an important street crossing that connects its east-west walking trail.

"We have two halves of a walking trail but they don't connect," he said. "A golf course is now cut in half. There are holes across each side of the creek, but no way to get across."

While the city hopes to have municipally owned infrastructure repaired by next summer, residents who had their basements flooded and properties damaged by rain are still struggling.

"We have recovered from the event, but it lingers. People are still dealing with the aftermath one way or another."

Chetwynd

The District of Chetwynd was completely cut off from the rest of the province when the only highway leading out of town was closed due to flooding June 15, 2016.

But now, "if you were driving to Chetwynd, you wouldn't know we had a flood," said Mayor Merlin Nichols.

"The highway through town has one area that's needing pavement, but other than that, things are looking good."

The real damage is to the town's park.

"The creek runs through it, and took away a lot of park. It looks like there's a big canyon through there, so there's a lot of work that has to be done," he said.

Pouce Coupe

The flood had a rather unexpected result in Pouce Coupe — an RV park and campsite is now under a metre of sand and debris.

"The creek decided to cut its corner and go through the park and deposited lots and lots of material — dirt, logs, debris," said the village's chief financial officer, Adam Langenmeier.

"Like it looks like sand dunes in there right now."

Their recovery efforts include redistributing the dirt to different areas of the park to fill in low spots, or taking the sand off-site.

Fort St. John

Angie Allwood with the Ministry of Transportation in Fort St. John said they were working on almost 300 different sites, the biggest being a large portion of Highway 97 that was washed out.

"Fortunately, that portion has been restored to two-lane traffic at this point," she said. "We're still actively working on it."

Another concern is the harsh winter.

"We're working to achieve timelines that are appropriate for each site and get ourselves to the point where the sites are able to be safe for the public and sustain us throughout the winter season," Allwood said.