Coldwater River (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

Merritt Flood Recovery

Susceptible to the next big flood, Merritt patiently awaits ministerial sign-off for land purchases

Mar 11, 2024 | 5:30 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — Earlier this year, the City of Merritt received word that the federal government agreed to fund $46.5 million for the rebuilding of two dikes in the community.

With the community at more risk than ever, the city is looking to move forward with new diking along the Coldwater River. The hold-up is the need to purchase some properties in order to better protect the rest of Merritt and those downstream.

“The new dikes will be built higher than the old dikes, which means that they are wider and we are also looking to set them back from the river. That is a modern dike standard,” said Director of Flood Mitigation and Recovery Sean Strang. “In order to do that, they need to be further back, they need to be wider and they need a little more land underneath them. That is what we are looking for.”

With 1,270 properties — or nearly one-third of the city — now within the new flood plain, Strang has worked closely with ministry staff for the past two-and-a-half years to craft the plan, and with precedence to buy out properties in the community already set, protecting Merritt homes is close to getting underway.

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“Everything is ready to go and most of the provincial staff that we’ve talked to are giving it the thumbs up,” said Strang. “We really just need the minister to get involved to talk to the ministerial staff and hit the go button. If we got the thumbs up right now, this afternoon I would be cutting purchase order and we would be ready to go.”

“All of these staff-level discussions, all of the policy guidance, everything else is done. The province actually gave us $330,000 to do all of the engineering, all of the environmental work, all of the surveying, all of that is done, and in conjunction with provincial staff,” he added. “We know that the program that we have is what the province wants to see. At this point, it’s a minister’s signature that we need.”

For anything to move forward, the city needs the final approval of the provincial government on an additional $21.7 million for land purchases, something Mayor Mike Goetz is confident will come.

“When you look at what’s behind us here, there really is no choice but to carry on,” Goetz told CFJC News. “Most of our residents up and down this river, and myself included, are still not protected in case we get a larger freshet. Thank goodness we don’t have as much snowpack in the hills and we are going to dodge a bullet there. But that’s not how it’s going to be in the future.”

Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart has been championing that cause in Victoria, but as an opposition member, her voice carries only limited weight.

“It would be a shame to see Merritt lose $45 million committed from the feds because the province won’t step up. Particularly when you think that we are running an $8 billion deficit this year, so there is no end to the spend, except for us,” said Tegart.

When Merritt flooded in November of 2021, water was flowing through Merritt at more than 300 cubic metres per second. After the devastation to the community and diking system, the city is worried about flows that reach barely one-quarter of that number.

“The previous dikes we engineered for flood standard of 150 cubic metres per second, the flood of record. The November event was 320,” said Strang. “But 90, that’s a pretty typical year. We feel like we will have some danger of flooding in town just because those previous dikes that were engineered for 150 are now destroyed.”

There is hope for a conclusion. Ministerial staff have agreed for a meeting with the city later this month.

“Recognizing the City of Merritt’s need for funding toward land acquisition to proceed with dike repairs, staff from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship and the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness have a meeting with city officials later this month to explore the next steps,” confirmed Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness staff in an email to CFJC News.