The memories are still fresh, more than two weeks after we ran from the path of the mudslide at Fairmont, B.C.
We escaped out the patio door of a condo at Fairmont Mountainside Villas Sunday evening July 15.
A river of mud, rock and debris swirled around us, blocking retreat from the front.
Any promise of escape to the SUV several metres away was flushed away by mud and rock that pushed the vehicle 100 metres down the road we had just driven up 20 minutes earlier.
I had joined Cameron Fairbairn and his mother Claire on what has been an annual family vacation for them for more than 20 years.
But this one was different. We had just unpacked the car and we were preparing dinner for Cameron’s son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren, who were expected to burst in the door any minute from their own condo (F8) two footbridges away on the other side of the Fairmont Creek.
Suddenly we heard a loud noise like a rumble of thunder.
But this thunder didn’t stop. Golfers on the fairway above us had come running to say: “You better get out of here; there is a lot of mud up there,” Cameron recalls.
We had no idea what they meant. Suddenly there is muddy water followed by mud coming at us down from the creek, from the 11th fairway and from the 16th fairway and it is not stopping.
It comes in successive waves each thicker and deeper than the last with more timber, debris and rock.
We could see the high ground of the resort’s recreation centre through the trees only a short walk west across a bridge and across the 11th fairway. We couldn’t cross because the creek was boiling high with mud and debris and there was mud snaking down both sides of the 11th green.
Our condo (E4) was inside the curve of the creek where it makes a southern bend before flowing down the mountain to meet the Columbia River below. When the creek burst its banks, it sent water, mud and debris more than two metres up the hillside-facing outside wall of the condo before swirling down around both front steps and side patio exits.
Our condo was located along the creek at the base of 11th and 16th fairways. One arm of the mudslide funnelled water, mud, debris and rock down both sides of our condo.
A footbridge west of us was already overtaken by mud. When we ran from the back deck of the condo, we had only a narrow path between other condos and flowing mud to the east, and boiling mud and creek to the west.
I was walking ahead and managed to get across before the mud covered our path. Claire and Cameron were not so lucky — both were overtaken by ankle-deep mud and water.
Claire, 91, who was accustomed to only short, slow walks, recalls later that we “half dragged her through the mud.” The second footbridge between us and the other side was already gone. The third bridge and walkway along the 12th fairway was being overtaken by mud flowing down from the 11th fairway above.
What had been a natural pond earlier now was a muddy mass flowing towards us.
For a moment I froze, convinced we should retreat to higher ground of the 15th tee box across the road behind us.
Cameron assured me to press forward across the bridge to the safety of the recreation centre, which was on higher ground. But by the time we got across that bridge our path to the rec centre was cut off again by mud and water. We had to take the long way around the 7th fairway and up the road to the rec centre.
When we got to the centre, we learned everyone who could walk was being evacuated to the fire hall at the entrance to the Mountainside Villas, where Fairmont Creek Road meets Hwy 93/95.
But emergency officials immediately judged Claire unable to make the trip. She was already white as a sheet, suffering breathing difficulties, and soaked to the skin from the rain. We were told to stay with her until she could be taken out by air ambulance. We were also uneasy because we still had not located Cameron’s son and the rest of his family.
We also could smell propane, and learned that the mud slide had dislodged a propane tank nearby and it was leaking.
When I asked an RCMP officer whether we were safe at the recreation centre he looked at me somberly and said: “moderately.”
I learned later what he meant.
From the second floor patio of the rec centre I could see mud and/or newly channelled creek running down three sides of the rec centre. It came down the edge of the 11th fairway to the east.
It fanned out behind the tennis court, demolishing a playground, and then struck a path along the road along the other side of the recreation centre. Mud and water also flowed across that road, finding a path between two sets of condos to the eighth fairway down below. Mud spilled over the curb and was more than a 25 cm deep in front of some condos.
We learned that the rest of Cameron’s family has made it safely to the fire hall with their car. The propane to the leaking tank had been turned off.
For nearly five hours, we were the only guests at the recreation centre. We had only the clothes we were wearing. Our last meal had been at lunch and the only food available were snacks from a vending machine. Cameron and I took turns pacing the perimeter, taking photographs, and watching to see how far the mud and water had advanced. Claire’s breathing had settled and she tried to sleep on the floor of the rec centre. The few staff who remained checked on us periodically and kept us informed.
We learned later that rain-soaked earth had driven mountains of mud, rock, timber and debris from high on the mountain above us. It came down along the path of Fairmont Creek before bursting its banks, cutting several wide swathes across the Fairmont Mountainside Villas and golf course, which has more than 115 condos in the centre of an 18-hole golf course.
We did not learn until later that the mudslide had washed out a road high above us and left more than 500 campers stranded at Fairmont RV Park. After racing past us, the mud slid across Hwy 93/95, closing the highway at Fairmont for several hours. Officials told us the path of the slide was more than 1.5 km long.
Before midnight, we are told it is safe. We are moved to another condo up the hill (P8) in the same resort. We had to be driven because there was still mud and a creek running across the access roads. We finally settled in for the night, but it is unsettling to hear a creek nearby, far away from its usual path. We were grateful to the general manager of Mountainside Villas and some heroic workers who got into our old mudswept condo to retrieve Claire’s medication.
Monday we awoke to the sound of water running. When we looked out our window we saw that a swathe of mud had deposited a minivan in the middle of the eighth fairway. The mud and a creek babbled along, carrying more mud and water to the second fairway below. We are on foot because our SUV is still locked in mud and rock on the other side of 11th green. As we walk around, we see damage everywhere. An army of workers and heavy equipment operators is tackling the massive task of putting the creek back in its regular channel and cleaning up the mountain of debris. Mud and debris has flowed over at least seven fairways, flooded roads to the condos, filled some condos with mud and debris. Our original condo is surrounded by mud, logs and soccer-ball sized rocks. We are allowed to return to our condo to retrieve our clothes and food.
Tuesday, I bolt awake again to renewed sounds of running water. When I go outside our P8 condo, I realize the sound is the new creek is running even faster across the road to our condo, before running through the mud onto the eighth fairway. Apparently, a new logjam further up the mountain has given way, allowing a cascade of water down the mountain on a new path as the original creek bed is still jammed with debris. This new slide now floods as many as 19 private homes at the base of the mountain, diverting the equipment and operators from further up the mountain to solve this new problem. Nonetheless our vehicle is freed on Tuesday.
Wednesday is the first day we awake to no sound of water running. Today we are dumbfounded to learn that 600 dump trucks full of rock and debris were removed from the resort in the first two days of the restoration effort alone. Our vehicle is so coated with mud, we learn it must stay behind for another week to be cleaned and repaired.
Thursday is the first day we don’t get our feet wet or dodge heavy equipment crossing the road to the rec centre. The creek that has been running over the access road has been restored to its old channel.
The last two days of our week gradually sees a return to order, although the mud, construction activity, and the ever-present pungent smell of drying mud still remind us of our ordeal.
On July 28 we return to Fairmont to pick up the SUV, which the mechanic tells us had 16 garbage barrels of mud cleaned from its undercarriage and components before it could be repaired for travel. We return to Fairmont Mountainside Villas resort to retrieve our bikes and carrier. We are in awe of how much rock and debris has already been removed from the most visible areas since the mudslide. A worker is sluicing mud from the seventh fairway with a fire hose as we drive by. We see a sign that tells us the RV Park, the hot springs and the Fairmont Lodge will reopen on Aug. 3.
As I reflect on the mud slide and its aftermath, I am in awe. It is amazing that no one was hurt or killed. I am touched by the attentive staff at the resort who assisted us during and after the mudslide. I am impressed by the massive co-ordinated efforts of the army of workers and equipment that have undertaken the cleanup and restoration efforts.
Unlike during my original week there, I begin, now, to see the idyllic beauty of the area that draws many visitors to return again and again to this piece of paradise.
cmartindale@www.reddeeradvocate.com