An elementary school teacher has been identified as the woman who was killed after her home was swept away by a mudslide in Coquitlam, B.C., on Saturday.
The body of Sonya McIntyre, 57, was found on Sunday evening, according to Coquitlam RCMP. McIntyre was identified as the victim by neighbours, loved ones and the local school district.
Her house was swept away by a mudslide in the Quarry Road area on the southern edge of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park after torrential rain fell on Metro Vancouver over the weekend. Coquitlam was among the communities hardest hit by the rain, receiving 256 millimetres between Friday and Sunday night.
McIntyre taught at Aspenwood Elementary School for decades, according to Jim Millington, who dated McIntyre for five years.
“This is kind of a shocker. You know, I thought it was a small slide, but this thing just wiped the house right out,” he told CBC News.
McIntyre’s house was described as a “beautiful property” by Millington, who helped rebuild the house when a tree fell on the deck a few years prior.
He said that he suspected that McIntyre might have been the homeowner who was reported missing on Saturday when the mudslide first closed Quarry Road.
“It was a single lady living in a house, and I just had a feeling, that sick feeling that, you know, it might have been her,” he said.
“When somebody you know has just passed away, like in such a tragic way, I mean … it shocks. It’s just kind of a shocker. It hits you pretty hard,” he added.
Debris from the house was visible along the mountain on Monday, with rescuers still in the area. Fire officials had earlier told CBC News that the mudslide had knocked the home completely off its foundation.
Millington said that McIntyre was very well-respected at Aspenwood Elementary and taught English as a second language during the summertime.
RCMP say a 57-year-old woman died in a mudslide in Coquitlam, and at least one person has died near Bamfield, B.C., following weekend flooding.
A spokesperson for the Coquitlam School District (School District 43) declined an interview request on Monday.
“The priority for SD43 at this time is to support the students and staff of the Aspenwood Elementary community as they struggle with the sad news of the passing of a valued teacher, Ms. Sonya McIntyre,” they wrote in a statement.
A Facebook post by the Aspenwood Elementary School Parent Advisory Council from 2018 stated that McIntyre had taught there for 14 years at that time.
RCMP said they had notified the family but would not provide more details about the slide and its “deeply tragic” outcome.