Thursday’s flash flooding in Merritt devastates homeowners just getting back on their feet from November

MERRITT B.C. — A severe thunderstorm on Thursday night (Aug. 11) in Merritt has resulted in localized flash flooding, as basements, crawl spaces and yards were once again inundated with water.

“The water from yesterday was over halfway up my door — it was about five feet up. Last November, the water was all the way past the ceiling and into the first floor of the house,” said homeowner Frank Craig.

Just a few short blocks away, Ashley Fulcher was cleaning out her yard and crawl space as the water on her block all seemed to pool in her backyard and the alley beside her home.

“You just hope that the government and the city is putting those things in place to prevent this from happening again. And, I’m thankfully in my house. There are people who aren’t even in their homes,” said Fulcher.

It’s been almost exactly nine months since the November floods devastated the community, as residents who have only just begun to get back on their feet were knocked down again.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was disbelief. I’ve been here before, I’ve had this feeling before, I really can’t believe that this is happening again. Fortunately, this time I didn’t really have any personal belongings down here,” said Craig.

“I was in shock, for sure. You are just wading through knee-high water, praying that the water will go down and not effect my house, but it did,” added Fulcher.

Both Ashley and Frank were not fully insured and have been rebuilding mostly on their own dime.

While Frank has received some disaster financial assistance funding, he credits the community for helping him recover again.

“These are people I didn’t really know all that well before the November flood and we have been a really tight community since that has happened and looking out for each other. It’s really been great that way,” said Craig.

The City of Merritt has been working to recover from the floods nine months ago, with the rapid infiltration basins just being repaired in July, but they are still a long way away from being back to normal.

“I’m okay, I’m okay. But they aren’t even in their home. There are a lot of people that are worse off, they don’t even know where they are going to end up,” stated Craig.