Cross-Border Policies Flood with Complications

The Nooksack River flooded into Abbotsford, Canada in November of 2021. Canadians who were impacted had little to no control, as the U.S. controls the policies around the river.

Cars drive through the floodwaters during the November 2021 floods in Sumas, Wash. // Photo courtesy of Hailey Hoffman

June 6, 2023

Story by Chloe Nelson

At 6 a.m. on November 16, 2021, Arnold community residents of the Sumas Prairie in Canada were evacuated due to massive flooding. 

Police told people to leave through loudspeakers attached to their cars, and the panic set in as the threat of the impending water loomed above the community’s heads. Arnold resident Tiffany Reitsema said that this flood uprooted her life. Her family couldn’t return until two and a half weeks had passed.

This storm was the most expensive flood the province of British Columbia has ever experienced.   

The flooding of the Nooksack River uprooted the lives of around 500 people just in the United States. Ron Cranfield, a citizen living in Chilliwack, Canada, said that the town was cut off from the world for over two weeks.

“We immediately stocked up on groceries,” said Cranfield. “We started running out of groceries, our grocery stores in Chilliwack, in the first week.” 

He compared it to the initial fear surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Reitsema’s family was evacuated to Chilliwack and faced much of the same reality. 

“The main panic for everybody that morning was getting the animals out because we didn’t have a trailer,” Reitsema said. 

When the family returned, they were greeted with a gruesome sight. 

“It was a hard time coming home,” Reitsema said. “I saw a lot of dead animals and vehicles were scattered because they would float.” 

After her family returned a week after the flood, they were forced to evacuate again. This time for a week and a half because the water was toxic.

“When we finally got home we weren’t able to stay in our house because we didn’t have hot water and the water we weren’t allowed to drink because it was all contaminated,” said Reitsema. 

A school courtyard near the Canada-U.S. border is completely flooded. // Photo courtesy of Hailey Hoffman

Peter Ross, a Senior Scientist at Raincoast Conservation Foundation, conducted a report on the contaminants in the Sumas Lake area brought on by the flooding. His team collected many water samples, and they detected twenty toxic chemicals not found in nature. 

“We counted a total of 59 instances where a contaminant exceeded a Canadian environmental guideline,” said Ross. “Which means there’s risk to the fish and [other organisms].”

According to Reitsema, the only positive result of this disaster was communities coming together during the two to three weeks of clean up.

“People were going and helping clean up other people's yards and taking wet stuff out of their basements,” Reitsema said.

Reitsama’s home didn’t have as much damage compared to the rest of the neighborhood because her house was raised. 

The residents of Canada who were impacted by the flooding of the Nooksack River had little to no say in governing the control of the river.

“The city of Abbotsford didn’t have any control over the flood management of the Nooksack because it starts in the U.S.,” said Laurie Trautman, a staff member of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.  

Many families weren’t able to save their animals in time. Reitsema said that many farmers had to put down their animals to save them from suffering.

The water was rising too late and they hadn’t been evacuated soon enough. Reitsema’s family lost chickens during the flood. In the aftermath, their elderly horses passed while they were unable to get their medication.

“This proves that we need more discussions about the management of that watershed,” said Derek Moscato, who previously taught the Canadian-American studies program at WWU. “ 

The possibility of future floods gives Moscato reason to speculate about solutions.

A preliminary assessment of flooding hazards in the Nooksack River Watershed brought about similar results. According to the assessment, flood frequencies have increased by about one to two floods per year since 1967. 

“About 75% of [Canada’s] exports come to the U.S., so it’s in their best interest to try to make their relationship work,” Trautman said. 

People have begun to see the need for change around emergency responses and strategies when it comes to the Nooksack River. After the Nooksack River flooded in 1990, the Nooksack River International Task Force (NRITF) was created. 

The Nooksack River International Task Force was brought about to bring Canada and the U.S. together to develop solutions to the flooding.

Unfortunately, the work done by the NRITF hasn’t been satisfying, and there is still plenty of room for improvement, according to a study done by Dr. Regina Jefferies and Kit Hager.

The study conducted by Regina Jefferies and Kit Hager reported that the previous failures to participate in a collective holistic framework has resulted in restricted success of the NRITF.

To evoke change is through getting others who were affected by the flooding together. Particularly those who live in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Sumas, according to Moscato.

“This is a Salish Sea issue that has very real consequences for the people living in those areas. Those are the people who need to be leading those conversations,” said Jefferies, an author and professor in the Law, Diversity and Justice program at Western. 

The main solution that Jefferies has come up with is stepping back and looking at things from a broader standpoint. 

“I’m talking more of a holistic view of all the different issues. This isn’t a scientific question, it’s also a question of law, society, economics and climate change,” said Jefferies. “Is this something you can answer by simply measuring water levels or tracking how the river changes from year to year? No, that's a bigger conversation that has to be had.” 

Cranfield said that the floodgates in Canada for the Sumas River have not been updated in seven years. Doing so could prevent future flooding.

“Following the November 2021 flooding, the Province of British Columbia and the State of Washington got together to reinvigorate this international process of collaborating and figuring out flood preparation, response and recovery,” said Jefferies. “It hasn’t worked for thirty years so what’s different about this now?” 

A stadium is filled with water after the November 2021 floods. // Photo courtesy of Hailey Hoffman

Chloe Nelson is a junior environmental journalism student at Western who has a minor in women's gender and sexuality studies.