Many evacuation orders, alerts lifted as floodwaters recede in B.C.’s Fraser Valley

Floodwaters have overwhelmed Highway 1 in Abbotsford, plunging the community into the kind of chaos they know all too well.

ABBOTSFORD — Abbotsford, B.C., resident Teresa Vogel showed up Saturday at Delair Park, where her son plays baseball, to see the damage from floodwaters for herself after heavy rain flooded parts of the city and closed roads, including a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Vogel said it was devastating and was shocked to see the baseball diamond surrounded by water, though it had receded since the day before.

“I can’t believe I was walking on that field months ago, and now you can’t even go down there,” she said. “When we got the news that it was flooded here at Delair, it was shocking — more shocking when you come and see it in person.”

The City of Abbotsford said floodwaters were receding Saturday, with some areas seeing significant improvement. Late in the day, it announced evacuation alerts for 1,069 properties in Sumas Prairie West and Sumas Prairie East were being lifted, and that 160 properties had been downgraded from an evacuation order to an evacuation alert, meaning those residents could return home.

Evacuation orders remain in place for 325 properties throughout Sumas Prairie.

The B.C. government, meanwhile, said westbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway have reopened. However, traffic for the eastbound lanes was still being directed to a detour.

But the region’s flood woes may not be over.

Environment Canada warned more rain is expected across the already saturated Fraser Valley. The forecast is calling for a “potentially significant push of moisture” Monday and into early next week. The agency also warns of an increased risk of landslides, as the rainfall may destabilize slopes.

Not far from the flooded baseball field in Abbotsford, a business complex was closed due to an evacuation order, but many drivers seemingly ignored road closure signs and were seen barrelling through a flooded portion near the complex’s entrance.

Dean Jeffery, who works at a veterinary clinic in the complex, said it was a “waiting game” watching the rains earlier in the week.

He said his home in the Huntington Village area has been under evacuation alert, and it was ordered evacuated in 2021 when flooding devastated Abbotsford following heavy rain.

Jeffrey said his neighbourhood has seen some flooding this time, but his home has been spared.

“We haven’t been asked to leave this time, so it can’t be as bad,” he said. “Although I don’t know what Monday’s going to bring, or Tuesday.”

The city issued a statement earlier Saturday warning that water continues to flow across the border from the Nooksack River in Washington state, where it first overflowed Wednesday.

The statement said side roads were still flooded, adding that online maps have been showing inaccurate information about roads that remain closed. As for the main highway, it said there was no way through Abbotsford and Chilliwack to get to the eastern reaches of B.C.

With more wet weather in the forecast for Sunday, officials in Chilliwack said local rivers were expected to swell, which may cause localized flooding. But they said flows were expected to be less severe than earlier in the week.

Cindy Braun, who lives in the Delair Park area of Abbotsford, said when she was returning home Thursday night, she was surprised to see the highway had flooded.

“We said, ‘Oh, brother, not again’,” she said in an interview, referring to the flooding in 2021, which she said was much worse. “Cars were still getting through, and we watched until it got that they couldn’t get through ... and it still rose overnight.

“I don’t know how long it will take to recede.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2025.