Flood outlook improves for B.C. residents

VANCOUVER — Sandbags, dikes, and stacks of giants rocks appear to be doing their job holding back the Chilliwack River from flooding parts of Fraser Valley in British Columbia after days of rain soaked southern parts of the province.

A local state of emergency has been declared in the Fraser Valley for the Chilliwack area, where evacuation alerts covered just under 40 homes on Friday.

The Fraser Valley Regional District said in a statement that the prolonged rainfall has raised the potential harms to people, property, infrastructure and the environment.

District director Patti MacAhonic said efforts to shore up the rise of the river are starting to pay off.

“I think people are feeling more hopeful than they did at first,” she said.

Photos provided show an excavator working among large boulders that have been stacked along the riverbank.

MacAhonic said the river is supposed to peak around 1 a.m. Saturday, and if current projections hold true, she thinks that the area will be able “to ride this one out.”

The district said the state of emergency will remain in effect until the threat to public safety is resolved and that residents of properties under alert should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

All rainfall warnings were lifted in the province by Friday evening, although Environment Canada noted heavy rain, combined with mountain snowmelt, could lead to bloated river systems and the potential for flooding.

A wind warning remained up for parts of B.C.’s Interior, with gusts up to 90 km/h before they were expected to ease Friday night.

The BC River Forecast Centre issued a flood watch for rivers and streams in the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver, Howe Sound and the Sea-to-Sky corridor and the Sunshine Coast, saying the last few days of rainfall arrive on top of previous totals, while freezing levels remain elevated, contributing to snowmelt.

High streamflow advisories were also posted on Friday for much of the southern part of B.C., including the Boundary Region, West and East Kootenay, and parts of the Upper Columbia River.

Similar advisories remain up for the Central Coast and all of Vancouver Island.

A high streamflow advisory means that river levels are rising or are expected to rise rapidly, but that no major flooding is expected.

No parts of the province are under a flood warning, which means that river levels have exceeded bankfull or will exceed bankfull imminently, and that flooding will occur.

Local search and rescue crews in Coquitlam had to evacuate eight residents and three pets by helicopter after a mudslide on Thursday.

Ian Cunnings, who oversaw the efforts, said in an interview Friday that it was not safe to rescue the residents trapped on the other side of the slide by foot, because of the pile of debris.

He said the rented helicopter lifted evacuees up about 45 metres using a fixed line hanging off the chopper.

A member of the search and rescue team accompanied each evacuee as they were taken up off their properties, he said.

Coquitlam Search and Rescue said on social media that the entire evacuation lasted around six hours, but Cunnings said each helicopter ride was “quite short, maybe one or two minutes.”

The city said in a statement Friday that no additional landslides have been observed, and no further evacuations have taken place.

Deputy Fire Chief Chris Fox said cleanup of the affected area will get underway, as rainfall eases and a geotechnical team will assess the slide area.

“Residents are reminded to avoid the area, and follow all directions from emergency personnel,” he said.

Avalanche Canada labelled much of southern B.C. as a moderate to high avalanche risk on Friday, saying “heavy rain and high freezing levels will continue to create very dangerous conditions.”

A part of the B-C Rockies along its boundary with Alberta was flagged as an extreme avalanche danger.

Environment Canada said the rain came along with an unseasonable warm air mass that also resulted in several daily high temperature records.

Meteorologist Brian Proctor said the atmospheric river system is expected to move out Friday, but the province will need a prolonged period of dry weather for conditions to stabilize.

» The Canadian Press