Too early to tell when Coquihalla could open after 'significant' damage

• Govt. awaiting expert review on extent of damage
• No fatalities reported as of Monday afternoon
• 230 mms rain over Coquihalla in 48 hours

Despite images that indicate massive damage to sections of the Coquihalla highway, the provincial government can’t yet say how long it may take for the key route to open.

However, the Public Safety Minister said it appears ‘significant’ damage has been caused.

As of Monday afternoon, there had been no confirmed fatalities, Mike Farnworth added, referring to all the landslide events on Sunday.

An atmospheric river that dumped a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours, also brought flash floods, record streamflow levels and landslides across several major routes, including Highway 5 between Hope and Merritt.

“We’ve had aircraft out looking at the state of the damage and we need to get the geotechnical assessments back from the crews,” Farnworth told a late Monday media conference.

“In the case of the Coquihalla, I have not seen a detailed report on that, but from what I have heard, there does appear to be a significant issue on one side of the highway,” Farnworth said.

He was referring to widely shared images online from Drive BC that show the southbound section of the highway ripped away between Larson Hill and Juliet.

Farnworth added they would have to wait for the full technical and geotechnical report to be able to say whether it could be ‘days or weeks’ before it opens.

“We need that information before we can make those kinds of assessments.”

Farnworth was asked about people being left trapped for much of Sunday and Monday on sections of highway inundated by landslides. He stressed emergency crews worked as quickly and safely as possible, in some cases since 2 a.m. Monday.

“Obviously this is a very harrowing time, and I can only imagine family members and loved ones’ [concerns]. Helicopters have been working all day on the slide on Hwy 7. Everybody is doing everything they can, as quickly and safely as they can to get people and vehicles out of the slide areas.”

A Ministry of Transportation official said 230 millimetres of rain had fallen on the Coquihalla since Saturday evening.