UPDATED: Floodwaters slowly receding in Abbotsford, but major closures and evacuations remain

Update – 10:00am (Dec 13): In a community update, the City of Abbotsford says floodwaters are gradually receding, with some areas seeing significant improvement. Overflow from the Nooksack River continues, but volumes are slowly decreasing.

Highway 1 remains closed, and drivers are urged not to attempt detours, as side roads are also flooded. There is currently no through-route between Abbotsford and Chilliwack or to eastern parts of the province.

Evacuation Orders remain in place for 460 properties, with 1,069 properties under Evacuation Alert. Rapid Damage Assessments are underway to determine when it is safe for residents to return home.

The Emergency Operations Centre remains active, with crews monitoring river levels, dikes, roads, and incoming weather.

The full update can be viewed at abbotsford.ca.

Provincial and local officials say flood conditions in and around Abbotsford remain serious, with hundreds of properties under evacuation order and more rain in the forecast, even as overflow from the Nooksack River into the Sumas drainage appears to have eased.

At a briefing today (video above), Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Kelly Green said there are roughly 450 properties under evacuation order and about 1,700 under evacuation alert, many of them in Abbotsford. She urged people in flood-prone areas to keep a grab-and-go bag ready and monitor local updates, noting evacuation orders can come on short notice.

Agriculture and Food Minister Lana Popham said floodwaters have reached some barns overnight and that 68 registered farms are under evacuation order, with 98 under evacuation alert. She said the province is aware of poultry barns lost overnight, but declined to share livestock mortality numbers during the emergency, saying those figures can be traumatic for farmers to hear in real time.

Major updates at a glance

Key updates are featured below with approximate timestamps associated with the video update:

• Evacuations: ~450 properties on order; ~1,700 on alert (Green, 3:51–4:09).

• Farms: 68 farms on order; 98 on alert; some poultry barns lost; ongoing livestock relocation efforts (Popham, 9:34–10:24 and 22:48–23:33).

• River situation: River Forecast Centre says the Nooksack overflow connection “turned off” around midnight, but the Sumas basin will take days to drain (Campbell, 17:39–18:34).

• Forecast: A stormy week ahead, with a more significant system expected Sunday–Monday and ongoing uncertainty about exact impacts (Campbell, 18:40–20:38).

• Highways: Highway 3 sustained major damage between Hope and Manning Park, with 23 impacted sites and no reopening timeline (Janelle, 48:08–48:43).

• Support: Emergency Support Services are available to evacuees; officials said damage assessment and return-home planning will ramp up as waters recede (Green/Tyler, 38:00–40:10).

Visibly frustrated, Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens used his remarks to renew calls for major long-term flood mitigation—particularly on the transboundary issues tied to Washington state—arguing the region cannot keep absorbing repeated flood impacts.

He said the city developed a mitigation plan after 2021 and wants federal involvement accelerated (Siemens, 14:02–17:25). Siemens said, “We need action, and we need action now. We don’t need empty promises from the federal government that they have our back. In fact, the federal government has not even reached out to me during this event. So I’m profoundly disappointed.”

He added, “I appreciate the ministers being here. I appreciate their commitment to making this a priority… But I need the federal government to be fully engaged. This is a huge issue—not just for Abbotsford, not just for our region, not just for our province.”