Flooding fears ease after rapid snowmelt

Flooding risks have diminished in the Okanagan, barring any significant rainfall.

“We’re shifting way from major concerns about the snowpack and risks from snowmelt alone, and moving forward we’re going to need to see some significant rainfall to . . . bring on new flooding issues at this point,” Dave Campbell, head of B.C.’s River Forecast Centre, said Monday.

Across the province, 40 to 100 per cent of the snow has melted, several weeks ahead of normal.

“We’ve seen, despite hot weather over the weekend, declining flows in rivers across the province,” said Campbell.

Flows into Okanagan Lake have decreased substantially, said Shaun Reimer, section head of public safety with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources.

“What that means is our rate of rise on Okanagan Lake has also reduced,” he said.

As of Monday afternoon, Okanagan Lake had risen 0.7 centimetres in 24 hours.

Its largest increase this season was by 10.7 centimetres on May 9.

Okanagan Lake is currently 57 centimetres below the high-water mark of 2017, but it remains above full pool.

“If the weather continues to cooperate, we may even be just days away from seeing it peak,” said Reimer.

However, significant rain could push the levels higher, he said.

On Monday, Reimer increased the flow out of the Penticton dam by another five cubic metres per second, draining 64 cubic metres of water per second out of the dam.

“As those tributaries particularly to the south have decreased, it’s allowed us to increase our outflow,” said Reimer. “There’s certainly some light at the end of the tunnel here.”

The Central Okanagan emergency operations centre is warning about debris that has washed up on beaches and is advising it should be left alone for now.

“The logs and other wood will help limit erosion caused by wave action,” it said in a press release. “When the flood risk has passed, officials will provide notification of how the beach debris will be removed.”

The EOC is planning to deploy log booms to prevent wave erosion on public beaches and foreshore areas along Okanagan Lake.

Crews are currently assessing the impact of projected lake levels and will deploy the log booms based on their findings.

Tolko is supplying the logs needed to build 1.7 kilometres of log booms.