Fraser Valley mudslide cuts off Highway 1

VANCOUVER — A mudslide has closed Highway 1 in British Columbia’s eastern Fraser Valley, causing backups and delays for drivers and rail traffic though the busy corridor.

Fraser Valley Regional District spokeswoman Jennifer Kinneman said muck and debris came down early Thursday in several locations on the Trans-Canada about 120 kilometres east of Vancouver.

“It’s a fairly long stretch of the highway and I understand there were five separate points where there was a mudslide on that road,” she said.

Kinneman said the nearby Popkum Fire Department responded to the first calls for help because some vehicles were stranded by debris or power lines that had come down.

She said firefighters helped several people and one was taken to a local hospital by ambulance but Kinneman had no information on that person’s condition.

Kinneman said the Ministry of Transportation and RCMP had taken over at the site from the local firefighters.

“I know that BC Hydro is on scene. I also know that CN Rail had to stop traffic on the rails because there was debris on the tracks,” she said of the Canadian National rail link that runs through the Fraser Valley on the south side of the Fraser River.

DriveBC, the Transportation Ministry’s road information branch, said geotechnical experts are assessing the stability of slopes along the highway and there was no word when the route would reopen.

A detour is available via Highways 7 and 9 through Agassiz, although construction on Highway 9 is adding to the delays.

An Environment Canada rainfall warning remains in effect for eastern sections of the Fraser Valley with a further 15 to 25 millimetres of rain expected.

A mudslide also closed Highway 40, west of Lillooet on Thursday, isolating the small communities of Gold Bridge and Bralorne.

An estimated time to reopen that road was not yet available.