BC commits $3.3M in funding for flood mitigation planning in the Sumas Prairie

After back-to-back flood events in December and January, the province is putting some financial backing toward flood mitigation in the Sumas Prairie.

“December’s flooding in the Sumas region was a vivid reminder that this critical national economic and transportation corridor is highly prone to water surges during periods of heavy rainfall,” said Kelly Greene, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. 

The province is putting $3.3 million toward the Sumas River Watershed Flood Mitigation Planning Initiative, which was created in 2021 after disastrous floods hit the region. The initiative is made up of the Semá:th, Máthxwi and Leq’á:mel First Nations, the City of Abbotsford, the City of Chilliwack, and the province.

The initiative was told of the funding in December, after “extensive planning” through the summer, according to the province. It will pay for a hydraulic model, risk and ecological assessments and multiple studies on water quality, fish habitats and water pump effectiveness.

This research will inform an official plan for flood mitigation in the Sumas Prairies, leading to structural and restoration projects.

The funding has been welcomed by the affected communities, who have long been calling for more support in preventing floods as climate change increases the likelihood of major weather events in BC.

Ken Popove, mayor of Chilliwack, said repeated flooding in the Fraser Valley underscores “the urgent need” for long-term solutions in the region.

“We hope this funding will support meaningful progress toward completing a flood-mitigation plan,” Popove said in a release.

Chief Dalton Silver of the Semá:th First Nation said he was grateful to see the initiative moving forward and hopes that flood planning will include “all perspectives” of the initiative.

While studies with the initiative are moving forward, other flood planning has been stalled—in September, Greene told Metro Vancouver mayors that there was no funding available for BC’s 10-year flood strategy, released in 2024.

Actions in the strategy would require billions of dollars in funding for the Fraser Valley alone, but the province is facing an $11 billion deficit as it wraps its fiscal year.

Greene told Post Media in December that federal support is needed to achieve the strategy, but that promises for funding—made after the 2021 floods—were not kept by Ottawa.