‘We have roads ripped up, bridges ripped up’: Merritt mayor trying to get people home as soon as possible

KAMLOOPS — Engineers with the City of Merritt spent Tuesday evening and much of Wednesday inspecting the wastewater treatment plant, which was damaged by high waters and is far from up and running.

“Our first response is to try to clean the water and get the wastewater treatment plant system up, but that is only the beginning,” said Merritt mayor Linda Brown. “For that, it would be for residents whose homes were not affected by water, but for those residents whose home was affected by water, we have infrastructure problems. We have roads ripped up, bridges ripped up.”

Thankfully, the Coldwater River is now running at 50 cubic metre a second — compared to more than 400 cubic metres a second at its peak overnight Monday — but the damage is already done.

However, there was some good out of Merritt on Wednesday. Structural engineers gave the green light for residents to cross the Houston Street bridge.

“This will require further inspections as the water levels recede to ensure that it’s safe to use, but this does mean that the residents of Collettville who were briefly completely cut off from the city can use that bridge to evacuate the community if they choose to,” said EOC communications manager Greg Lowis.

The other good news coming out of the Nicola Valley is there could be drinkable water coming in the next few days.

“There’s certainly the possibility that if we can get it to a point where we can [water] safe to return on a boil-water advisory that it might mean it would be possible to have people return to the city,” said Lowis. “At this point, we’re not even in a position to run any fawcetts, never mind tell you the quality of what’s coming out of them, so that’s basically why we remain on an evacuation order.”

Officials estimate there are up to two thousand people still left in Merritt. For residents coming back for pets or family members, the city is allowing them to return briefly.

“They’re prepared to wait what could be up to three hours or more for an escort,” said Lowis. “They will be escorted into the address they identified to collect a specific person or pet, and if they do that they must leave the city with that person or pet they said they were going to collect. This will be under escort and be enforced by the RCMP.”

For the residents who are seeking refuge in places like Kamloops, Brown says the city is working diligently to get people back as soon as possible.

“We understand the sacrifices they’re making having to leave and we are doing the very best we can to get them back,” noted Brown.