By Canadian Press

Family is ‘distraught’ in search for missing man along B.C.’s Coquitlam River

Oct 23, 2024 | 11:06 AM

The daughter of a man missing after taking a walk along the Coquitlam River remains hopeful her dad will be found alive four days after he disappeared.

Jessica Belding says her family is “distraught” that 59-year-old Robert Belding is missing after walking his brother’s dog near the Metro Vancouver river on Sunday.

She says her dad and his brother went to a friend’s home that borders the river to help with a flooded basement and her dad took the dog for a walk but didn’t return.

Coquitlam was one of the hardest hit areas as an atmospheric river weather system rolled over southern B.C., bringing more than 250 millimetres of rain between Friday and Sunday.

Belding says she and other family members began searching on Sunday night, and while they found the dog, there’s been no sign of her father.

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She says her dad enjoys the outdoors and she’s hopeful he has managed to stay conscious and wasn’t hurt too badly.

“We’re pretty distraught,” Jessica said in an interview on her cellphone while she was out searching for her dad on Wednesday.

“I think some of us are pretty numb because it just doesn’t seem real. It’s getting harder by the day.”

At least three deaths have been linked to the torrential rain over the weekend.

A woman was killed Saturday when her home was swept away in a mudslide on the outskirts of Coquitlam, and two others died on the west coast of Vancouver Island when a road washed out and an overflowing river submerged their vehicles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press