Flooding and mudslides in British Columbia have devastated parts of the province, with major roadways blocked or destroyed.
With the roadways being undrivable, plenty of truckers are unable to complete their routes, which will affect people in Saskatchewan.
Susan Ewart, the executive director for the Saskatchewan Trucking Association, says their first concern is for the safety of those affected. This will have a cascade effect on Saskatchewan.
“There will be supply chain impacts with the flooding that happened. A lot of the main roadways that care connectors, like east and west, have been affected,” she said. “It’s now going to impact every province straight across the country. You could see products or even produce that we are looking for, could be very much delayed, so those types of things and people are going to have to be patient and wait until some of that traffic is able to move back and forth again.”
Ewart says for businesses, there is a lot of money sitting in B.C. that cannot move.
“You think about what is sitting at that port, there is millions of dollars worth of goods that need to be moved, and they may not be able to be gone in a timely fashion because of the fact that you can’t get them out of B.C. at this particular point,” she said. “The Governments are working very quickly with the B.C. Trucking Association, as well as the Canadian Trucking Alliance to come up with some solutions, alternative roadways, and different ideas to help the supply chain and support the people of B.C.”
She said it’s important for people to be patient, as it will take a while before things get going again.
“Saskatchewan is a land lock province. We do rely on exporting our goods and bringing in our goods from Western Canada,” she said. “It’s not just a week solution; these roads aren’t going to be open for months.”
She added that they have been talking with the BCTA on possible solutions for truckers, such as going through the United States and other options, though nothing is concrete yet.
Currently, B.C. has declared an State of Emergency, and the province believes the death toll, which is currently at one, is expected to rise as crews are working tirelessly.
