A Year Later, Still No Answers

kc dyer
4 days ago
4 min read

December 14 marks anniversary of Battani Creek Disaster

Overhead view of Batanni Creek debris torrent aftermath. Watershed file photo.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic debris torrent that cascaded through Lions Bay and across Highway 99, destroying one home and damaging several other properties, and taking the lives of David and Barbara Enns.

Shortly after 10 a.m., reports came in of a massive mudslide that had torn down Battani Creek above Brunswick Beach, cascading across and fully blocking the Sea to Sky highway.

In the aftermath of the event, a number of homes in Brunswick Beach were evacuated. Emergency Services converged on the area for days, working to clear the highway and to complete the tragic search for Barb and Dave.

In the months since the event, while family and friends struggled to come to terms with their shock and grief, the Village declared a state of local emergency, and the RCMP opened an investigation into the deaths.

The area around the Enns' home, which had been swept down the mountain by the debris torrent, was initially cordoned off, and there were reports that the province would conduct a geohazard assessment of the area.

Local MLA Jeremy Valeriote stood in the legislature last February seeking support for the Enns family and for others who had their homes damaged in the event from the provincial government.

But as time passed, there has been no apparent action at any level of government. If a geohazard study has been conducted, there has been no public announcement of the findings. The State of Local Emergency put in place by the Village of Lions Bay was withdrawn in August.

In April, a civil action was filed in BC Supreme Court on behalf of the children of Barbara and David Enns, as well as the Fourie, Medland and Barry families who own and reside in two houses affected by the landslide. The suit named the province of British Columbia, the Village of Lions Bay and local resident Steven Vestergaard as defendants. Vestergaard owns property above the landslide area, on which he has built roads and a water reservoir.

The lawsuit alleged that the reservoir constructed on Crown land above Lions Bay was done so illegally and that both Vestergaard, who built the reservoir and associated works, and the Province failed to adequately comply with directives laid out in a 2014 geotechnical report.

Vestergaard responded by stating that any construction he undertook was legal and authorized, and that he was not responsible for the debris flow or the damage resulting from it. He counter-sued the families, seeking damages for economic loss, reputational harm, defamation and personal injury.

In their response to the families' suit, lawyers representing the province stated that the debris flow "was caused by natural events," and should be considered "an 'act of God'". They added that "if the Illegal Works caused or contributed to the Debris Flow, the Province was not responsible for those works and took reasonable and appropriate steps as regulator and landowner."

No trial date has yet been announced for either action.

This week, in response to a request from The Watershed, Squamish RCMP Corporal Ashley MacKay said that while she "can confirm the file is still open and under investigation," she has no further updates to provide.

A request for a comment from the Village was not returned.

Lions Bay resident Norma Rodgers, who had been about to walk her dogs that December day on a nearby trail as the debris torrent rocketed past, says that nothing appears to have changed.

"I walk those trails every day," Rodgers said. "The road is clear, but the debris is still piled up everywhere. The bridge is still damaged. The gate they put up is still there, but now it's open."

And while daily life has resumed in the Village, friends and family of the Enns still feel their loss.

Longtime resident Rose Dudley had been friends with Barb and Dave for decades, and says on today's anniversary that she is remembering them with love and tears.

"We ask ourselves how a person can be present one day and gone the next," she says, adding that she takes comfort in knowing that true friends are never really gone, with their spirits living on in memory.

"Our running group will never be the same because it was Barb who inspired us, and without her we feel lost," says Dudley. "We miss her not only for her inspiration but for her gentleness, kindness, honesty and integrity. Barb and Dave were very special friends, and not a day goes by when I don't think of them. Our lives are poorer for their loss, but how privileged I and many others feel to have known them."