Abbotsford City Councillor Simon Gibson is hoping to improve flood mitigation in the Fraser Valley with the help of provincial and federal governments.

A new pump station and two dykes near the Sumas Prairie are needed to avoid a repeat of the devastating floods in November 2021, but the City of Abbotsford cannot do this alone, Gibson says. 

Gibson predicts that the project will cost billions, and that is why the other two levels of government need to partner with the city to build them.

“It's clear that a new pump station and dykes, which have been proposed by Abbotsford prior to my return to council, is the solution,” Gibson says on the city’s perspective on the flooding disaster.

“The real problem is that Abbotsford doesn’t have the kind of money needed, and the province and the feds will have to come alongside.”

Gibson assures that flood mediation is a priority for the City of Abbotsford and that there is at least one staff member whose "total responsibility" is flood remediation.

“I am actually pretty optimistic: I don't think anybody wants to see a repeat of last year.”

A new pumping station isn’t the only issue that needs to be addressed for flood prevention, Gibson said. The city has seen some environmental challenges adapting to how last year’s floods changed the landscape around the Sumas Prairie.

“I think that the challenge has been that the water used to go south through the Nooksack River system,” Gibson says. ”Now, as we know, it is coming north and creating a huge tragedy for the entire Sumas Prairie.”

For more on what Simon Gibson had to say about the city’s and provincial plan to prevent flooding, listen to the full interview below: