Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says the province is rushing to develop routes for veterinarians to access animals that survived flooding that swamped the Fraser Valley. Popham says thousands of animals have died in the region where many dairy and poultry farms are located. She says desperate farmers tried to rescue their animals but had to abandon them as floodwaters started swamping roads. She says even animals that were ferried out of barns are in poor health and need help. Popham says not all farmers had time or the means to get their animals out as water moved in.BC declared a state of

An early morning fire at a recreational vehicle dealership in Abbotsford taxed already-stretched first responders in that city even more. The blaze broke out at around 6:30 a.m. at Four Seasons RV Rentals along flood-damaged Highway 1 and quickly engulfed dozens of the units that were parked tightly together. Fire crews had trouble reaching the scene because the business is almost completely surrounded by floodwaters and crews were also hampered by the 500,000 kilovolt transmission lines directly above the flames. Fire Chief Darrell Lee says particulates in the thick smoke created by the burn

Dairy farmers in flood-affected British Columbia are being asked to dump milk because mudslides and road washouts have made it impossible to transport. The B.C. Milk Marketing Board is advising producers in areas like Abbotsford, Chilliwack and the B.C. Interior to dispose of their milk by dumping into manure piles. Mudslides and flooding have cut several key highways in the province. Many B.C. dairy producers have no road access at all to their farms right now. In other cases where milk can be picked up from the farm, there is nowhere for it to go. There are no roads available to enter the B

British Columbia Premier John Horgan has declared a state of emergency after flooding and landslides devastated the southern part of the province. Horgan says the declaration will preserve basic access to service and supplies for communities across the province. He says the government will bring in travel restrictions to ensure that essential goods and medical and emergency services are able to reach the communities that need them. He has also asked the British Columbians to avoid hoarding and said "what you need is needed by your neighbors too."

BC's public safety minister says declaring a provincewide state of emergency is a possibility as communities in the Fraser Valley grapple with the impacts of landslides and flooding after record-setting downpours earlier this week. Mike Farnworth says he plans to raise the issue during a cabinet meeting today. He says a key priority is making sure there's a flow of supplies so people can buy food and essential goods in areas with flooded or damaged roads or railways. Numerous roads and highways are closed due to flooding, landslides or washed-out bridges with Transportation Minister Rob Flemi

The board chair for a group representing BC dairy farmers says efforts to rescue livestock from areas inundated by floodwaters are time consuming and stressful. Holger Schwichtenberg with the BC Dairy Association says he didn't know the number of farmers who've had to move cows, but 25 to 30 milking cows were being moved to his own property from another farm in the Fraser Valley. Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun says he witnessed a number of farmers trying to save their cows as the community put out new evacuation orders Tuesday. Braun told reporters he saw farmers using powerboats to haul cows o

The city of Abbotsford, B-C is dealing with mass evacuations due to severe flooding and on top of that, about 40 firefighters are battling a major fire at an R-V dealership.About 100 campers parked tightly together are burning and Fire Chief Darren Lee says some high-voltage power lines overhead are creating an added danger for his crews.Water levels on the Fraser River in the Abbotsford area have dropped two-metres in the past 24-hours, but Mayor Henry Braun says the river needs to drop another metre to take pressure off a pumping station that's at risk of failing.Public Safety Minister Bill

B.C. is reporting 338 new cases of COVID-19, including 18 epi-linked cases, for a total of 213,358 cases in the province.There are currently 3,568 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 207,275 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 376 individuals are currently in hospital and 107 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.In the past 24 hours, one new death (Fraser Health) has been reported, for an overall total of 2,274.There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Ridge Meadows Hospital (Fraser Health). The

A search continues for more possible victims after the body of a woman was recovered from a landslide near Lillooet that was triggered by record rainfall. The RCMP say the total number of people and vehicles unaccounted for after the landslide across Highway 99 has not yet been confirmed but they have received reports of two other missing people. Rescue crews are also searching for potentially trapped vehicles or people in the debris field of two slides on Highway 7 near Agassiz. Helicopters evacuated about 300 people to safety yesterday after they were trapped in vehicles caught between the