FEARS RISING
With 2,000 homes ordered evacuated and 2,600 others on alert, officials say more people may be forced out by rapid snowmelt
Linda Sylbester and her husband Rick place sandbags around their Osoyoos home. Mayor Sue McKortoff says a new round of evacuations may be ordered.
Flood-weary residents in communities across B.C.’s Interior are bracing for the possibility of yet another round of evacuations as a result of high temperatures and rapid snowmelt.
Chris Duffy of Emergency Management B.C. said about 2,000 homes are subject to evacuation orders — nearly 1,500 of those are in the Kootenay-Boundary Regional District. More than 2,600 other homes are under evacuation alert throughout the province.
Many parts of the province are seeing temperatures six degrees above the average for this time of year, increasing the speed of which snowpacks are melting.
David Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre, said there’s uncertainty as to what areas will be affected the most by floods as unseasonable heat and the potential for rain hits the province in the next seven to 10 days.
“Clearly this is an extremely intense weather system in terms of the temperatures, and certainly coming at a time in the season where rivers are already flowing very high,” he said.
Campbell also warned that rapidly rising flows in the Fraser Valley could surmount to historic levels by this weekend, expected to reach almost 12,000 cubic metres per second in Hope — the highest levels since 1948.
Steady rises in the Fraser River have stretched from the Headwaters to the Lower Mainland, however no flood advisories are currently in effect for the region.
The areas of highest concern for flooding are the Okanagan, Boundary, Shuswap, and the Similkameen Valley, where Duffy said they’ve “already experienced significant challenges.”
Uncertainty also looms for some communities in Southern B.C., who are recovering from last week’s floods. Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff said 53 residents have already evacuated, but said that number may increase significantly.
“We’re sort of stable right now, but the river is probably going to raise quite a bit,” she said. “It’s been recommended that they take precautions and get ready, because we’re not really sure where we’re headed.”
Tulameen Mayor Bob Coyne said many residents have just returned home, but may soon be required to leave once again.
“It’s a sit-and-wait kind of game,” Coyne said. “You can still see snow wherever you look here. With this weather, it’s got to go down eventually.”
Other areas that could see rising levels include Prince George, Quesnel, and the Bulkley lakes district. Emergency operation crews in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary — which includes Grand Forks, B.C., one of the hardest hit areas — are on the ground working to fortify infrastructures that were damaged by earlier floods.
Chris Marsh, director of the Emergency Operations Centre for the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, said floods have already had catastrophic damage in areas like Grand Forks.
“Protecting weakened infrastructure is their first priority,” Marsh said. “Things like electrical, sewage and water systems are all things we’re working on.”
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said in a news release that residents of Hedley, the village of Keremeos, and those living along the banks of the Similkameen River should prepare for an evacuation order, and people with medical conditions, mobility issues, and those with livestock or animals should evacuate immediately.