The co-owner of an Abbotsford amusement park took to social media on Wednesday to say his site had been spared the worst of this week’s flooding.
“Castle Fun Park survived the flood,” an upbeat Brian Wiebe said
in a video posted to Instagram
.
The family run, medieval themed park, featuring go-karts, arcades, minigolf and other attractions, has been a fixture in the Fraser Valley for over three decades.
Wiebe said following the devastating 2021 atmospheric river that caused extreme rainfall and inundated large swaths of the valley with floodwater, the park installed a concrete, lock-block wall around the site made of waterproof materials to “keep the surface water at bay, so it wouldn’t pour over the foundation walls into the basement.”
“This past weekend was extremely close to the water height in 2021, but the wall held back (the water) and later during the flood we reinforced the wall with a berm to further protect some of the vulnerable areas.”
Wiebe also credited crews from various construction, contracting and restoration companies who came out in the middle of the night and traversed a hillside (since the entrance was inaccessible) to bring in gear and 15 sump pumps to keep the groundwater low.
Groundwater, he noted, is a second area of concern where water comes underneath a building and starts “bubbling up … like a bathtub.”
While there was some damage, it was nothing catastrophic, he said.
After suffering heavy damage from the 2021 floods, the park reopened in summer 2022. Wiebe said announcements are expected soon on plans for reimagining the park “for the next generation of families.”
