Photo: Jesse Frame
Debris covers Highway 7 near Agassiz after landslide
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UPDATE 4:30 p.m.
A rescue operation to air trapped motorists from the site of multiple mudslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz and Hope is expected to be completed by early evening.
Most of the estimated 275 people stranded overnight have already been blown up by Cormorant helicopters operated by the Canadian Armed Forces.
There was also another slide on Highway 99 near Lillooet that was estimated to have trapped 50 vehicles, but since then they have managed to get through.
UPDATE 12:55 p.m.
Evacuation efforts are underway to remove people from the slip zone.
Last night the Agassiz Fire Department and Hope Search and Rescue rescued 12 people whose vehicles were trapped in rubble.
A press release on behalf of the Canada Task Force heavy search and rescue team commended local firefighters for their efforts to reach people as their vehicles filled with rubble and water.
A reconnaissance team consisting of CAN-TF1, Chilliwack Search and Rescue, and a geotechnician is currently surveying the area from the air to assess the debris and determine if more victims could become trapped in the current.
Meanwhile, Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopters have launched the first of several rescue flights to evacuate those trapped between the slides. These evacuees are taken to a reception center in Agassiz.
CAN-TF1 has a team in the slide area that coordinates the triage of the air evacuation. The Agassiz fire brigade takes over the care as soon as the people arrive at the reception facility.
Photo: Jesse Frame
Motorists stranded among mudslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz are being flown out of the air by Canadian Forces Cormorant Helicopters
ORIGINAL 12:20 pm
They were on their way to St. Paul’s Hospital for post-op follow-up.
A Kelowna family is among approximately 275 people trapped between mudslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz, anxious to be rescued.
Cole Beckholt, his brother, and mother, Wendy Dyer, headed to Vancouver on Sunday to take the Coquihalla Highway. They had to make a detour on Highway 3 after a slide closed the Coquihalla and they ended up in Hope
The power went out in Hope and all gas stations were closed. Then they made the fateful decision to try one of the few routes still open, the Hwy 7.
“We were only about 15 minutes on Highway 7 when a landslide was ahead of us. And then they made us turn around to go back towards Hope, but then another landslide happened in front of us. So that’s the way the vehicles are locked in, ”Dyer said.
“It was a huge slide and there were a few cars down an embankment, kind of mutilated and sticking out. The gravel was as fine as dirt and quicksand, and at that point no one could come in and help, ”said Beckholt, he was told this morning that everyone was being taken care of and he believed no one was injured.
A Department of Transportation truck is among the vehicles that were cut off from the chutes. Beckholt says the woman in the vehicle helped coordinate the stranded people to make sure everyone is fine.
He notes that some people run out of water and a person needs insulin.
Dyer said they had a case of pop in their vehicle and their younger son went to vehicles near them to offer refreshments to anyone who needed them.
While search and rescue teams were being dispatched to the area, Beckholt told Castanet they had not yet seen any rescuers.
He described the slide as so deep it could take several days to remove and even longer to repair the damage to the road.
Another Kelowna man, Jesse Frame, is also stuck between the two slides. He was four vehicles from the slide when it came down while he was on his way to the Lower Mainland.
“It was really dark. It just looked like a tree had fallen in front of us. And yes, on closer inspection it was definitely more than just a tree,” he said, calling the slide “huge”.
“I didn’t see any search and rescue teams, but a lot of drivers got out of their vehicles and drove down there,” said Frame, referring to one of the vehicles being pushed down an embankment by the slide.
“And it looks like they took him out because the windows were broken. And I think people were pulled out.”
While Public Safety Secretary Mike Farnworth said Monday they are considering using helicopters to rescue motorists trapped between the slides, Frame says he and others have not been told anything on the ground.
“You have to do something. Because from my point of view they didn’t do anything, “he said, adding that most of the people are sitting in the vehicles,” because it rains so hard moments when you go out. “
Frame says he brought some snacks and cans of Pop, but others are left without food. He hopes the provincial government will launch a rescue mission soon.
