Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Amandalina Letterio

NICOLA RIVER FLOOD

Many homes near Spences Bridge washed away by flood; community hopes for long term help

Nov 25, 2021 | 4:22 PM

SPENCES BRIDGE, B.C. — Many residents along Highway 8 near Spences Bridge have lost their homes to the Nicola River flood.

The Area Director for the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD), Steven Rice, and his wife Paulette, have opened their Spences Bridge cafe to evacuees, but the community says it wants to see long term support from the province as many people have lost their homes.

“This is a long term, this is the long haul of a disaster,” Rice told CFJC News.

The Public House cafe has become a refuge for people who had to flee their homes because of flooding from the Nicola River.

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Residents along Highway 8 are cut off from their homes with no return date in sight. The Rice’s farm is one of them.

“Paulette’s really upset. I’m trying not to be. But, really homesick already. We just want to go home and we know we can’t. So, it’s pretty hard,” Rice said tearfully.

The Rice family home is surrounded by water but at some point, the couple will be able to go back to their house. However, many other community members have lost everything.

“I thought we were going to die,” said Kim Cardinal, as she showed CFJC News a video of her retirement farm getting washed away by the river.

With no help from insurance, she and her husband, both in their 50s, will be starting over.

“We’ve owned a home for 30 plus years — or more than that, 40 years. I don’t know how long. And then it’s just gone,” she said.

The residents in the Spences Bridge area are hoping for long term support from the province. The minister of public safety says the province is working hard to help the community.

“There have been airdrops of food going in. There have been initiatives to use forest roads to provide access. There are military flights that have also assisted in dropping off,” said Minister Mike Farnworth.

Minister Farnworth adds that anyone who is unable to get support should contact EMBC immediately.

In the meantime, The Rice’s will keep their cafe doors open to the community — which has seen more trauma in one year than many places will see in a lifetime: The COVID-19 pandemic, being forced out of their homes by this summer’s wildfires, and now this: a devastating flood that has brought these people to their knees, but has also brought them closer together.

“We had a dinner here tonight — last night — for some of our locals and we invited the evacuees into that dinner. We had it planned for quite some time. It’s amazing — the resiliency of some of these folks,” said Rice.