Why was there no emergency alert sent for flood evacuations in the Fraser Valley?

Critics and residents are questioning the provincial government’s response as Abbotsford continues to recover from a recent atmospheric river, saying the BC Emergency Alert system is intended for use in natural disasters just like this.

One opposition MLA says many residents were caught off guard when evacuation orders were issued, and some didn’t even know something was happening until they heard something from south of the border.

“The first warning they got was actually World War II, Cold War-era air raid sirens that Sumas, Wash, fired up,” said Bruce Banman, MLA for Abbotsford South.

“That’s how they found out.”

Banman says since we have the technology available, the province needs to be using it when situations like floods arise.

In a statement sent to 1130 NewsRadio, Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene said the BC Emergency Alert system is just one of the tools used to alert people of emergencies in the province, and she says it was not needed in this case.

“So far, local governments and First Nations affected by flooding, including the City of Abbotsford, have confirmed that they have not required a BC Emergency Alert to keep people safe,” she said.

“The province stands ready to issue a BC Emergency Alert if requested by local governments or First Nations.”

Meanwhile, Premier David Eby says the suggestion that people didn’t get early warnings is incorrect.

“We had significant advanced warning about this — both the impacts of the weather system and the rising waters in Washington state — because of increased cooperation and investments in mobile monitoring done by both British Columbia and Washington State,” Eby said.

“And with that significant advanced window that we had, we had a very different outcome this time than we did in 2021.”

Eby says some of the advanced warning allowed farmers in the area to make preparations, such as moving livestock to safer areas.

He went on to say that there needs to be a balance between providing necessary information and not wanting to panic people.

“That is an imperfect science,” he said.