BC's public safety minister says the province is through the worst of the storms that brought historic flooding and damage to southern parts of the province. But Mike Farnworth says officials and residents are only beginning to start the long-term cleanup. He says both the provincial and federal governments are committed to help affected residents. Environment Canada lifted all weather alerts for BC as storm conditions eased and floodwater receded, allowing for the reopening of Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Hope. Highway 5, a main connector between BC's Interior and the Lower Mainland, was

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says 628,000 poultry, about 12,000 hogs and 420 dairy cattle died in the widespread flooding last month. In an update today, Popham says 110 beehives were also been submerged and recovery efforts to clean out barns continues to be ``extremely heartbreaking.'' More than 800 farms remain under evacuation orders and official believe the number of livestock killed in the floods will likely rise as residents and operators return. Popham says she's working with the BC Agriculture Council to ensure farmers are supported and has also met with her federal counterpart t

An appeal to the public by Metro Vancouver Transit Police has led to the quick arrest of a suspect who allegedly attacked and sexually assaulted a woman at 29th Avenue SkyTrain Station.On November 27, 2021, shortly after 12:00 a.m., a woman was approached by a man at 29th Avenue SkyTrain Station who blocked her from walking past him multiple times. The suspect allegedly wrapped his arms around the victim, groped her, and forced her to the ground. The victim courageously fought back and pushed the suspect away before he allegedly shoved her down a set of stairs and grabbed her phone. The victim

Highway 99 will remain closed today, Thursday, Dec. 2, between Pemberton and Lillooet, as crews prepare to clear the highway following recent slides.The highway was closed Wednesday evening due to a mudslide. Another larger debris flow occurred overnight in the closure area near Duffey Lake, depositing a significant amount of material across the highway.No drivers were affected by the first slide, after which the highway was pre-emptively closed. The second, larger slide occurred after this.Because of what is in the debris flow and how much there is, cleanup will be challenging. Geotechnical a

A major arson investigation in Tsawwassen has now concluded with a guilty plea.On January 1st, 2020, a commercial building home to two dental practices and a music school located at 5405 12th Ave was destroyed by fire. The property was a total loss with damages valued at over $3,000,000. This deliberate act significantly impacted the businesses, employees, their customers, and Tsawwassen residents."Our investigators were persistent in their collection of evidence over an investigation that spanned several months. They managed to retrieve key information from a digital video recorder fully subm

The City of Vancouver says it will use a downloadable smartphone app to provide safety alerts to local residents, visitors and communities in case of local emergencies. The city says in a statement that Alertable is a municipal-level public alert system that will enable timely distribution of information. It says the app complements the city's existing methods for notifying the public of emergencies, including social media, advisories sent to local news media, updates to the city website and door knocking. On the weekend, the BC government said it is also prepared to use another system, Alert

Environment Canada has lifted all weather alerts for British Columbia, and the River Forecast Centre has lifted all flood watches on Vancouver Island and the central coast. Rivers in those two areas have reached peak levels and are now receding, but flood warnings remain in effect in other areas where snowmelt is causing rivers to rise. DriveBC warns highway conditions are dynamic after another landslide closed Highway 99 between Lillooet and Pemberton just hours after it was re-opened last night. Drive BC on Twitter: #BCHwy99 CLOSED 9km north of #Pemberton to Lillooet due to mudslide. Assess

By early next week, Canadians and all other foreign visitors who travel to the United States by air will need to get a COVID-19 test no later than the day before their departure. U.S. President Joe Biden is slashing the current 72-hour testing window for fully vaccinated travellers as part of a suite of public health measures aimed at slowing the spread of the highly mutated Omicron variant. A White House background briefing on the plan late Wednesday made no mention of land borders, or whether fully vaccinated Canadians who drive south would be required to show a test result.

Several rivers in B-C remain under flood warnings and hundreds of homes evacuated as the province cleans up from heavy rainfall. There are 12 evacuation orders involving 350 homes in the Fraser Valley, and more than 1,600 are on alert. Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says the floods on the heels of summer's extreme heat is in line with expected trends. He says weather stations in Nanaimo, Victoria, Abbotsford and at Vancouver's airport have broken precipitation records for the fall season.