Parts of B.C.’s South Coast are\u00a0still recovering from 28\u00a0days of rain in January, with several major roads still closed and at least two areas under a state of emergency.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people remain stranded in the Fraser Valley after\u00a0a mudslide blocked one kilometre of\u00a0Hemlock Valley Road\u00a0near the\u00a0Sasquatch Mountain\u00a0ski hill.<\/p>\n A sustained storm, lasting 36-hours in some areas, hit the province Friday.\u00a0Environment Canada said it was one of the wettest Januarys on record, dating back to the 1930s.<\/p>\n By the time the skies cleared, up to 371 millimetres of rain came down in some of the worst hit parts of western Vancouver Island.\u00a0Other areas, including Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, received between 50 to 100 millimetres.<\/p>\n “This is not the typical, run-of-the-mill, autumn or winter storm,” said Philippe-Alain Bergeron, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.<\/p>\n The intensity and sustained rainfall, combined with a month of near-record breaking rain, caused flooding and other problems like mud and landslides.<\/p>\n “It’s just been a very wet month, so we already had a lot of moisture and saturated ground,” he said.<\/p>\n “If you add heavy rain on top of that, it can be a recipe for disaster.”<\/p>\n Crews spent much of Saturday responding to emergencies and power outages caused by the weather.<\/p>\n On Sunday, problems remained, including reduced phone service for some customers after there was damage to lines.<\/p>\n It could be five or six days before work crews can build a road\u00a0allowing access in and out of Hemlock Valley and the Sasquatch\u00a0Mountain ski resort, near Agassiz.<\/p>\n The resort’s Shelby Lim said that over the weekend as many as\u00a0500\u00a0people were forced to stay\u00a0either in the community or at the resort.<\/p>\n The road washed away Friday night amid heavy rain and the Ministry of Transportation says there is no safe detour around the damaged road.<\/p>\n The ministry is advising those who are behind the washout to stay where they are for the time being, although the resort says a local helicopter company is offering a lift out for a $150 fee. So far around 100 people have left.<\/p>\n The District of Kent declared a state of emergency to help deal with conditions in the Agassiz area. Photos posted online by the Ministry of Transportation show one local road, Rockwell Drive, near Harrison Hot Springs, washed out.<\/p>\n Kent Mayor Sylvia Pranger says about 40 homes were evacuated north of Harrison Hot Springs when Rockwell Drive washed away.<\/p>\n Rising water prompted the Cowichan Valley Regional District on Vancouver Island\u00a0to also declare a local state of emergency and move more than two dozen\u00a0residents out of their homes.<\/p>\n The district says some residents along the highway where flooding\u00a0was the worst were getting help sandbagging their properties.<\/p>\n One of B.C.’s U.S. border crossings was closed due to flooding in Abbotsford. Drive BC said Highway 11 was closed southbound, resulting in the closure of the Sumas border crossing.<\/p>\nSkiers still stuck on\u00a0hill<\/h2>\n
Other road closures<\/h2>\n