A major Canadian city risks turning into a lake
Tristin Hopper 1 day ago


A major Canadian city faces the very real prospect of reverting to its prior status as a lake . Although the heavy rains that lashed B.C. earlier this week have largely ceased, in Abbotsford they’ve caused the overwhelming of a local pumping station that authorities warned Tuesday could prompt a “catastrophic” rush of water that would pose a “significant risk to life .” Much of Abbotsford sits in the footprint of a former lake that was drained in the 1920s and flooding has compromised the usual defences that keep the area drained. One of the more heartbreaking aspects of an evacuation order issued Tuesday night was the requirement for farmers to abandon their livestock ; a directive likely to result in death for tens of thousands of Fraser Valley cattle and horses.

 

B.C. Provincial Archives A 1922 photo of Sumas Lake, a body of water drained in the late 1920s to make way for much of modern Abbotsford.