© The Canadian Press / Jonathan HaywardA mudslide covers Highway 1 east of Chilliwack, B.C. Wednesday, June 29, 2011.
Front-end loaders and trucks worked into Wednesday night on the stretch of highway between Chilliwack and Hope in an attempt to clear the road before the rush of vacationers descends on the highway for the long weekend.
The slide left a mess five metres deep and 60 metres wide across the eastbound lanes of the highway, about 100 metres from the Herrling Island exit.
"We weren't able to see that there was [anyone else trapped] by foot, but the equipment, as it begins to move the debris will make a determination if there's anyone else impacted," said RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen.
"The mudslide is large enough that it could easily cover a number of vehicles and we wouldn't know it until we uncovered them."
A woman whose vehicle was flipped over and pushed against the median escaped with minor injuries, said B.C. Attorney-General and Chilliwack-Hope MLA Barry Penner. Penner toured the site Wednesday afternoon and said cleanup crews began work at about 3:45 p.m., after geotechnical experts concluded the area was safe.
"I remember slides there back in the 1980s and a lot of money and effort has been spent to widen the creek beds to enlarge their capacity to handle wide flows [of water]," said Penner, who grew up in the area. "But sometimes Mother Nature throws more at us than we can handle."
Ministry of Transportation spokesman Jeff Knight said crews would monitor the adjacent slope's stability as they work through Wednesday night.
Paul Henderson, a reporter for the Chilliwack Times, tried to reach the area from the Fraser River below the highway, but could only see the portion of the steep hill where the slide originated. "Up at the top it looks like a cliff just broke away, at least 50 feet wide," Henderson said. "And there's a giant swath of rock and trees and mud that rolled down the hill."
From early Wednesday afternoon the highway remained closed in both directions as Ministry of Highway engineers and geological technicians assessed slope stability from a helicopter to determine if rescue operations could resume. Only a small amount of mud made it onto the westbound lanes, Penner said.
© Ric Ernst, PNGEastbound traffic is diverted off Highway 1 at Bridal Falls east of Chilliwack June 29, 2011 after a wall of mud and debris covered the route blocking travellers in both directions.
"No cars were derailed," she said. "The mudslide stopped our train. Whether or not there was some mud or debris under the track I don't know."
Svendsen said the slide stopped a westbound container train carrying consumer goods and that CN crews were working to clear up the track - located below the westbound highway lanes - but there is no timetable for a return to rail service.
The closure diverted traffic to Highway 7, with vehicles heading west from Hope to Agassiz forced to a crawl for more than an hour.
Motorists looking for updates on road diversions can check the ministry's drivebc.ca website for updates.
In 2002, a massive mudslide severed the Trans-Canada Highway near Hope, about two kilometres west of the Herrling Island exit. Five cars were left half-buried under rock, gravel and mud, and several houses were damaged.
Kurt Edmunds, Ministry of Transportation representative for the Sunshine Coast and Howe Sound, said that an extensive amount of work was done to strengthen the banks of the creek after the slide in 2002. The creek bed was completely redefined to increase capacity for water and debris.
Despite their best efforts, this slide was unexpected because it "came from very far back," he said.
"It's just one of those unfortunate circumstances. It came from a distance that we could not have anticipated, from quite high up."
"It's kind of mayhem here," he said. Traffic is heavier than usual because of the upcoming long weekend.
"This could not happen at a worse time."
The area experienced less than 10 mm of rain in the four days preceding Wednesday's rainfall.
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