Tammy Calverley was too busy, too tired and maybe even a little afraid on Tuesday to look at the video footage from the closed-circuit cameras installed around Russell Farm Market.
The day after torrential rains caused the Chemainus River to breach its banks and flood the market and surrounding area, the market’s operations manager sounded drained and gutted.
Standing on the two inches of silt and sludge covering the floors in the market, Calverley said she has seen it all before — a devastating flood last February left eight inches of silt on the floors.
Last time, it took just 55 seconds from the first small puddle forming on the parking lot to having the market swamped by four and a half feet of water from the raging river.
Calverley suspects it may have been faster this time around.
“I had a security guard here until 5:20 [Monday] morning and he said it looked like the normal rain parking lot, and sometime between then and 7 a.m. the flash flood occurred,” she said.
“It flooded just like last time. We have had a river through the market and we have mud and sludge on the floors and people here trying to help. It’s pretty sad.”
There may be less dirt on the floor this time around, but this flood will be more expensive and take a lot more out of owner France Bournazel and her staff.
This time there’s no insurance to cover the damage.
“They wouldn’t insure us for flood again after last time,” said Calverley. “We’ve been told there will be some disaster relief but look at what’s happening around the province right now. We’re just a farm market and there’s Merritt and Princeton under water. We won’t be a priority on the province’s list.”
North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring was fuming Monday when he stopped by the market and saw it once again buried in river water.
That frustration had not subsided Tuesday when he noted whatever work had been done on the river since the last flood wasn’t enough.
“It’s frustrating because after the 2020 flood, I wrote a letter to the province saying they had to do something. I told them if they don’t do something it will happen again,” he said.
Siebring said he pointed out these events are happening more often and action is required, not studies.
“Regularly scheduled maintenance [on the river] isn’t happening now and it needs to — we need a process in place that deals with it on an ongoing basis,” said Siebring, who believes the requirements to protect wildlife habitat may have led to work being delayed or not done at all.
The provincial Forests Ministry is responsible for flood safety and river forecast management. It did not respond to a request for comment.
Calverley said the market was reconfigured after the last flood so most products were well off the floor and it appears their compressors are still working and most of their products can be salvaged.
They have reached out to the community for volunteers with strong arms and backs willing to move dirt and clean.
“We just need a lot of labour,” she said.
The rest of North Cowichan seemed to fare better.
“Based on the assessments I’ve seen, with the exception of the Halalt First Nation and some other areas, we certainly did better than the flood of 2009,” said Siebring.
The mayor noted that after that massive flood, they reinforced dykes. That has paid off, as the river flow was measured at 50 to 60 per cent stronger than in 2009 and there is less damage this time around.
“It really did its job,” he said.
Roads that were closed during the peak of the flood Monday in the region are now open and damage assessments are continuing. Portions of Canada Avenue, Mays Road and Mary/Philip Street remain closed.
Kris Schumacher, communications manager for the Cowichan Valley Regional District, said their regional emergency operations centre remains active and evacuation orders remain for the Cowichan Tribes and Halalt First Nation.
“For people impacted by evacuation orders, things are still far from normal,” he said. “The good news is rapid damage assessments started today and there may be some people able to return to home, pending results, as soon as [Wednesday] morning.”
The CVRD had 200 people use the emergency services centre set up at the Cowichan Community Centre and about 30 people were put up in hotels in the area Monday night.
aduffy@timescolonist.com
