And the Waters Increased

Eyes wide. Fists clutching bedcovers. Rain hammering at our worrisome old roof. The atmospheric river had woken me again. The roar reminded me of the relentless boulder field we pinballed our canoe through on the Nicola River a few summers ago. Reminiscing about paddling during one of British Columbia’s most catastrophic storms might seem weird, but my husband and I have slid our canoe through many of the southern Interior waterways that have been making the news lately.

“Left!” “Right!” From the bow position, I had yelled back at him as we pivoted past hazards in the canyon where the Nicola flows toward the Thompson River. The ride had been exhilarating then, but on my sleepless night in mid-November, torrential rains had already turned the pretty valley between Merritt and Spences Bridge into a disaster zone.

The...