Cowichan Tribes sandbagging flood-prone homes as atmospheric river approaches Vancouver Island

Cowichan Tribes members have spent much of the week filling and piling sandbags around their homes as Vancouver Island braces for the next atmospheric river approaching the region.

"We roughly made about 10,000 sacks between the three days," said sandbagging supervisor Wayne Sampson on Thursday.

It’s backbreaking work but necessary as another storm is on the horizon that could bring floods.

"In this area here we have the Cowichan River as well as the Koksilah River coming down to the low-lying floodplain," said Chris Jancowski, emergency manager for the Cowichan Tribes.

The rising rivers have caused homes and roads in the area to flood in the past.

"We’re building up sandbag protection around many of the residential homes in the low lying areas," said Jancowski.

It could take up to 1,500 sandbags to protect a home. When it comes to critical infrastructure, the Cowichan Tribes emergency management department isn’t taking any chances.

Currently, around 50 per cent of homes and critical infrastructure are protected with sandbags. Crews will continue to work through the weekend in order to protect the remaining structures.

"We are looking at those [precipitation] totals anywhere between 45 millimetres up to 60 millimetres depending on where you’re at,” said CTV News weather anchor Warren Dean.

The province is also watching the coming storm carefully and says it’s prepared.

“There are over four million sandbags that are ready to be deployed if necessary,” said Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety on Thursday. "There’s sandbagging machines in locations around the province."

Farnworth says assets have already been deployed to some areas of the province that are prone to flooding.

In the Cowichan Valley, the sandbags will be kept in place throughout the flood season.

"Climate change is here, it’s impactful," said Jancowski.

Last year, to deal with the effects of our changing climate, the Cowichan Tribes created an emergency response team.

"We want to make sure we forecast these types of events and have time to be proactive in putting some of these protections in place," said Jancowski. "If it’s not floods in the wintertime, it will be fires in the summertime."