The City of Merritt says the reopening of the Coquihalla will help with the recovery efforts after flooding in the community last month.

“While we never lost our connections to Kamloops or Kelowna, they are high mountain passes and of course the Coq is as well, but it means when there is risk of snowfall or traffic disruption, having that extra link is critical,” Director of Corporate Service, Greg Lowis, said.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Lowis noted the Coquihalla brings back the most direct link from Merritt to the Lower Mainland, making it easier to get supplies into Merritt.

“I know when we were first welcoming people back after the evacuation, we had to ask people to make sure that they brought several days of supplies with them because we were concerned about the ability to operate supply lines into Merritt at that point,” he said.

“And although we haven’t had huge shortages, it is just fantastic that we’ve been able to get this link reopened.”

Lowis says while crews have made significant repairs to the infrastructure in Merritt since the floods, there are still parts of of the City that are severely damaged.

“One particular road, Canford Avenue, where there were just pictures of the utterly destroyed asphalt, of course, that sewer system and that drinking water system that needed to be fully redone,” he said.

“We’ve been able to get to the point where although some of the houses are still very badly damaged, from a municipal perspective, those houses can request to be reconnected if their internal systems can handle it.”

For now, Lowis says Merritt staff are focusing their efforts on repairing damage in areas like Pine Street, which were most affected by the flooding on the Coldwater River.