Merritt residents in Phase 3 seeing destruction for first time, bracing for another atmospheric river Tuesday

MERRITT, B.C. — The clean-up is just beginning for Scott Broderick. He’s only been recently allowed back in on a day pass to assess the damage from flooding two weeks ago.

“I believe it’s probably the exterior [that suffered the most damage],” Broderick, who lives a couple hundred metres from the Coldwater River, said. “My fence that’s only a couple years old, most of it has blown down now. In areas, [there’s] up to six inches of mud in the yard, and the whole crawl space on the inside was inundated with water.”

Residents like Broderick in Phase Three are getting look at the destruction for the first time. When the Coldwater River broke its banks and rushed towards homes, its new path led right to the Broderick residence and others on Hill Street. Their place was tagged “yellow.”

“It means there was a caution. We had to get our sewer, our water, our electrical, and our gas all checked out and signed off before we can actually go back in and live in the house,” Broderick said.

As the clean-up continues across the city, Merritt officials are warning residents still living along the Coldwater River that more damage could come Tuesday (Nov. 30) when yet another ‘atmospheric river’ makes landfall.

“If we get that much water again — the same amount we did the first time [on Nov. 15] — the waters will breach those dikes, and in that situation, it will not be safe to be anywhere near the Coldwater River,” Merritt Emergency Operations Centre Communications Manager Greg Lowis said. “This is why it’s crucially important that everyone should not be in the evacuation order [zone] outside of the day access time.”

On Sunday night (Nov. 28), the Coldwater River was flowing at 177 cubic metres a second – usually extremely high – but it paled in comparison to the 400 cubic metres per second two weeks ago Monday.

The fear is the worst of the atmospheric rivers could reach closer to the 400 cubic metres a second mark. Many residents are concerned about what could come.

“Yeah, I’m worried about that because I have friends that live pretty close to the river,” Merritt resident Ed Moroz said. “They’re going to get hit badly again.”

However, the Canadian Armed Forces is on the ground in Merritt and helping reinforce the banks of the Coldwater in preparation for Tuesday.

“I know that everyone is absolutely thrilled to see them here. The Canadian Armed Forces are an incredible asset and resource when they can be properly used and when it’s the right time to have them,” Lowis said. “[They’re] doing the shoring up of our dikes, protecting our vital infrastructure. It’s absolutely the right task to be putting them to at this time.”