Many shoppers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Interior were met with empty shelves at grocery stores Wednesday as flooding and washouts cut communities off from the Lower Mainland for the third day straight.
Chilliwack is cut off from Metro Vancouver because of massive flooding in Abbotsford on Highway 1, and washouts along the same highway, cutting it off from Hope.
TikTok user Claire Bowman shared a video of massive lines at grocery stores and gas stations Tuesday afternoon, saying many people are panic-buying groceries.
Users on Twitter also shared photos of empty shelves in Chilliwack.
Stores in non-evacuated parts of Abbotsford were also running low.
Hope, which is currently isolated because all roads leading to the community are washed out or blocked by mudslides, is also hosting approximately 1,200 stranded travellers — about a sixth of its population.
Drivers have been sleeping in their cars, but food is running out at grocery stores and local gas stations.
Empty shelves in Hope, BC (Stephanie Martin/Submitted)
Further north in Kamloops and 100 Mile House, store shelves are also getting emptied.
BC Trucking Association’s president and CEO, Dave Earle, said that usually there are 100,000 transport trucks on the road on any given day in BC, but right now there are no highways open to connect the Lower Mainland with the BC Interior.
He was confident that supply chain experts would find a way to deliver goods, but it would take longer and cost more money than usual.
In the meantime, he urged people not to panic-buy or hoard groceries (Daily Hive).
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