After several weeks of flooding events across British Columbia “the worst appears to be over,” said the head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre.
During a province wide media call on Monday - which will be the last of its kind now that flooding concerns across the province have dissipated - Dave Campbell said water levels in virtually every river and lake in B.C. are down significantly and there aren’t any areas expected to endure further flooding.
While there is still significant amounts of snow pack that have yet to melt in upper elevation mountain ranges, there are no concerns of any more flooding in British Columbia, said Campbell.
Higher than average temperatures across much of the province means the remaining snow will continue to melt rapidly, but water levels across the Okanagan, Similkameen, Boundary and Kootenay regions, which have suffered the worst flooding, are so low there is no longer any concerns over a return to flooding incidents, he said.
“We’re shifting away from major concerns about snow pack,” he said.
Almost all of the States of Local Emergency, evacuation alerts and evacuation orders have been lifted across the province and those still in place are expected to be rescinded by the end of the week, he said.
Chris Duffy, director with Emergency Management B.C., said “there are no new developments regarding flooding” anywhere in the province.
A total of 31 States of Local Emergency, 14 Band Council evacuation alerts, 35 evacuation orders affecting 150 properties and 43 evacuation alerts affecting 2,600 properties remain in effect, but will soon be lifted, said Duffy.
Even though regional emergency operations centres will remain open, including one located in Kamloops, the plan is to switch from emergency operations to a recovery effort in areas where people are still recovering from flooding events, said Duffy.
Recovery efforts in Grand Forks and many other areas in the Kootenay and Boundary regions are continuing as they recover from catastrophic flooding that forced close to 4,000 residents to be removed from their home almost three weeks ago, said Duffy.
As many residents return to their homes, they are going to need assistance during what promises to be a prolonged recovery effort, he said.
While there is often a short period of a few weeks between spring flooding and the start of wildfire season, that likely won’t be the case this year, said Duffy.
“Over the last 10 years … there’s been no real breather between the two,” he said.
With near record temperatures recorded over many parts of the province in the past month, Campbell said the river forecast centre will be keeping a close eye to ensure potential drought conditions don’t surface in the coming weeks.
The weather will play a critical role in determining what happens now that the spring freshet season is thankfully coming to an end, he said.
Shaun Reimer, section head of public safety and protection with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, said water levels on Okanagan Lake are very close to peaking, but he’s not worried as lower levels across the watershed will allow him to increase outflow from the lake throughout the week.
"Okanagan Lake is rising in terms of millimetres, rather than centimetres," said Reimer. "If the weather continues to co-operate, we may be just days away from seeing a peak."
The gates at the Penticton Dam were opened by five centimetres on Monday, increasing the water flow to 64 cubic metres per second, he said.
While water levels remain high in several tributaries leading to Okanagan Lake, he doesn't anticipate any serious concerns relating to flooding, said Reimer.
“There’s certainly some light at the end of the tunnel here,” he said.
The B.C. River Forecast Centre does not plan on holding any more bi-weekly media conference calls relating to provincial flooding, as has been the case over the past several weeks, said Campbell.
