City offering to buy out 80 Grand Forks homeowners 2 years after floods

Muriel Neale lovingly tends her sprawling garden in Grand Forks, knowing full well she'll soon  walk away from it.

The tulips and hyacinth and already in full  bloom with roses expected next.

"That's the most challenging part is lifting these bulbs and taking them to the next place," she said.

Neale and her husband live in South Ruckle, one of the suburbs hardest hit by flooding two years ago. Grand Forks was inundated with so much water the army was called in to help. Now, the city is buying out residents like Neale. 

"We lost 17 trees here" she said. "It's not the same".

Initially, Neale and her husband resisted, but as the spring melt began and the Kettle rose to the tops of its banks once more, they decided it was time.

"We were appraised at the end of January and then offered a fair settlement, so we decided to go".

The City of Grand Forks has hired a company to appraise, negotiate and draw up offers for about 80 homeowners. The province gave the community $53 million last year to stabilize banks of rivers and pay for settlements.

"We're looking at about 75 offers having gone out for single family dwellings, over two thirds accepted and moving forward with contracts," said City of Grand Forks recovery manager Graham Watt.

Watt says considering the program only started in February, it's going well.

Martin Menzies of the South Ruckle Ratepayers Association says most people feel like they are getting a fair deal, but there are homeowners who still don't want to leave.

"There's one fellow I know and his wife was born in their house and they've lived their all their life. Now, they're having to pick up and move," said Menzies. "He's having a hard time with that".

The two rivers are also rising again and the snowpack in the Monashee mountains is significant.

River forecasters don't expect widespread flooding but can't rule it out either.

Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor says when you heap the Covid-19 virus on top of flood worries and buyouts, it's a stressful time for many in Grand Forks.

 "I'm seeing it all around me, just the piling on of stress after stress," said Taylor. "My feelings go out to the people of Ruckle who are making critical life decisions."

The 80 or so homeowners in Grand Forks have until the spring of 2021 to leave their homes. Neale has decided once she leaves her small acreage and garden on the banks of the Kettle, she'll never come back.