A woman is still unaccounted for after her home was swept away during the flooding along Highway 8 between Spences Bridge and Merritt.
BC RCMP spokesperson Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet says police are investigating a report of a missing woman, who was unable to evacuate from a home on Highway 8 on Nov. 16 prior to it being washed away.
The investigation into her whereabouts remains ongoing. The woman’s family is requesting that no further details, including her name, be publicly released at this time.
Prior to Tuesday, police had only disclosed the four deaths and one still missing in relation to a slide on Highway 99 north of Pemberton.
Floodwaters from the Nicola River left a swath of destruction along the Highway 8 corridor that could take several months to repair. BC Hydro posted a video of a fly-over between Spences Bridge and Merritt, and it shows whole stretches of road gone.
The electrical provider estimates at least 75 power poles have been washed away in the raging waters of the Nicola River. Before crews can get into many areas to make repairs, vehicle access will have to be restored.
The water rose so fast in some areas, families and First Nations communities were cut off.
A daring rescue had to be undertaken at one property to get horses and other farm animals out, and the Royal Canadian Air Force made a delivery of food and other supplies to the Nicomen Indian Band last weekend.
A bridge connecting the community has been damaged in the flood and it is being removed. A temporary span is being erected, but it won’t be ready for several days.
