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500 troops in B.C. helping with flood works, delivering supplies to cut-off areas

Mike Farnworth praised federal government responsiveness in B.C. disaster zone
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A CH-146 Griffon helicopter is loaded on board a C-177 Globemaster III as the Canadian Armed Forces send relief to the floods in British Columbia, in Quebec City, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The public safety minister on Monday (Nov. 22) praised the federal government’s commitment to B.C.’s flood response, adding that the hundreds of soldiers in B.C. are helping with a variety of disaster related tasks.

“We’ve seen them out (in the field) helping to breach some of the dikes, strengthening those dikes and delivering supplies to communities,” Farnworth said.

“The federal government has been very responsive in that matter. Whatever we’ve asked for, they’ve been able to supply.”

During a weekend press conference, the feds said there would be 500 troops on the ground in B.C. by end of day Sunday, helping in several flood-ravaged communities. Three dozen soldiers were assisting with sandbagging operations in a First Nations community near Hope.

Federal officials said that the personnel being sent to B.C. would have experience in everything from road and bridge engineering to logistics, as the province struggles to get its supply chain up and running amid devastating flooding and landslides that have cut off many communities, including those in the Fraser Canyon near Lytton and further east into Merritt, both communities facing their second disaster after being ravaged by wildfires this summer.

PHOTOS: Royal Canadian Air Force arrives in Abbotsford to help shore up flood fight


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katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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