SPENCES BRIDGE, B.C. - A director with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District says it could be years before some residents of Spences Bridge, B.C., can return home after flooding and a mudslide hit the area.
Steven Rice, who is also a farmer from the small community southwest of Kamloops, says he and many other residents were forced to flee their properties with little more than the clothes on their backs.
He says the Nicola River, which runs along flood-damaged Highway 8, has changed course and left some farms underwater.
The flooding hit on Nov. 15, with a subsequent mudslide wiping out the highway and destroying or damaging dozens of properties in the area.
B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation did not return an immediate request for comment on an estimate on how long repairs to the highway would take.
Rice says the federal and provincial governments need to increase relief efforts and help winterize affected properties to ensure no more damage takes place.
Rice says the damage is particularly hard as many residents rely on farming and hunting to survive.
