Torrential rains and alpine meltwater flooding in the Pemberton Valley prompted about 100 households to evacuate and left wild horses in danger during the night.
The Story
Streams and lakes replaced roads and pastures in the Pemberton Valley on Thursday after torrential rains and alpine meltwater triggered widespread flooding.
The rapidly rising waters forced about a hundred households to evacuate in the middle of the night, and in the dark rush many crucial items, including pets, were left behind.
Jackie Andrew, a horse rescuer in the Pemberton area and a member of the Lil’wat Nation, said getting word out through social media was crucial. “Getting word out through social media, that’s our smoke signals,” she said.
Andrew described the weeks since the flood as a flood-response effort that quickly became coordination for trapped animals and a search for the wild horses that live in the valley. “They’re just part of who we are. If something happened to them. People would truly feel it, because they’re good medicine,” Andrew said.
According to Andrew, the herd was split during the flood, with half located belly-deep in water while the other half was missing.
Brenna Bluethner, a Pemberton resident, went looking for the missing horses in still-saturated fields and eventually located them wet and hungry, but all accounted for. “I felt the biggest sigh of relief,” Bluethner said.
Bluethner said she worked alongside Andrew and others over the past year to look out for the wild horses, including entering freezing cold, contaminated water to help guide them toward dry land. “It was up to my waist, because we couldn’t get them to move with the boats, they were really scared. So I ended up jumping in with my road, and I started to lead the pack, and I was literally behind 25 horse butts that could kick me at any time,” Bluethner said.
Andrew and Bluethner described their cooperation as an example of how Lil’wat Nation community members and Pemberton residents can work together, noting that colonial policies pushed the Lil’wat out of what is now Pemberton and onto reserves on flood plains.
Andrew said the communities’ response during the flooding shows what future cooperation could look like. “We need to come together, not just when there’s floods and funerals, right?” she said.
She added that sharing boats and canoes as roads washed out offered a way forward. “This is how our people lived and survived back in the day. And these are the teachings that we need to bring back,” Andrew said.
Andrew said she hopes the cooperation between communities remains even as the wild horses return to running between reserve and municipality. “With the wild horses back to running between reserve and municipality, Andrew says she only hopes the cooperation doesn’t recede with the water.”
← More stories