Resident decries landslide response in B.C.'s Nahatlatch Valley

The owner of a rafting resort on the Nahatlatch River near Boston Bar, B.C., is frustrated with the government response to a landslide that blocked and flooded some roads in the area over the weekend.

The slide was reported Saturday and the province and regional district both confirmed that some forest service roads were blocked as a result.

The slide was reported around Hannah Lake in Nahatlatch Provincial Park, according to a spokesperson for the Emergency Management Ministry, who said first responders and search and rescue groups helped 40 people leave the area after the landslide.

A local resort operator who witnessed the slide and its aftermath says the province should have done more in its response to the slide, requiring locals to step in and fix the problems that arose as a result.

Bryan Fogelman, the owner of REO Rafting Resort in the Nahatlatch Valley, said he saw around 1,000 trees and a "ridiculous amount of debris" coming down near his resort on Saturday night.

"The power of the river, of the Nahatlatch, you know, started moving the material downriver and it completely changed the setting that we're looking at now," he said.

"Because we used to have a very, I'd say, calm rapid in front of us. And now, we have a big rapid and upstream from us we have a lake."

While his resort's operations weren't directly affected by the landslide — the debris having flowed downstream —Fogelman says he didn't see any visible emergency responders in the area until Tuesday.

He says officials haven't replaced a culvert in the river since the November 2021 floods, and there had been ongoing road issues in the area for years even before Saturday's slides.

"[The roads] have reopened because locals with machinery were able to get in and move the debris," he told Shelley Joyce, host of CBC's Daybreak Kamloops, on Tuesday. "There's been no [emergency] response." 

Fogelman said he doesn't know the exact cause of the slides yet, but said trees haven't been able to retain water well since being weakened by the devastating Kookipi Creek wildfire last year.

"There was no disaster relief funding or any support whatsoever in that situation," the resort operator said of the wildfire. "And just like this event, which happened on Saturday night and we alerted everybody, and nobody came until Tuesday.

"It just doesn't seem like we're getting any kind of appreciation or response. And we're really not that far away from, you know, cities and whatnot."

Officials warn backcountry users

In response to questions about the emergency response, the ministry spokesperson said they're working with local authorities and First Nations to address the slide.

The spokesperson said that a "local excavation company" was able to clear the debris and blockage created by the landslide from a forest service road, and also said there was flooding on a road five kilometres south of the REO resort.

"By Sunday morning, vehicles were able to pass again on this portion [of road]," the spokesperson said Tuesday. "Our contractor is currently clearing debris from the culverts and working on repairs to the road."

The Fraser Valley Regional District said there were two localized debris flows as a result of the slides, and RCMP worked swiftly to close the affected forest service road until obstructions were removed.

A spokesperson said they are advising all backcountry users and residents to review hazard reports in the area, following the Kookipi Creek wildfire, and to "be prepared for an elevated hazard landscape."

"Following the Kookipi Creek wildfire, the province installed large signs to inform recreators and residents about the hazard landscape and how to take protective actions," the spokesperson wrote.