Lower Fraser River flood risk weaker, but still a threat

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – The risk is still ‘present’ because of hot temperatures in this week’s forecast, but local flood monitors are breathing easier about possible damage caused by the Fraser River overflowing in the Valley.

David Campbell, the head of the River Forecast Centre, says that’s mainly thanks to cool, dry weather over the weekend.

“We didn’t see quite as high flows as we might have anticipated on the Fraser. We reached up to about six metres at the Mission gauge and we’re really expecting those values to kind of–at the river–to hover around those values through this week.”

He says that level is still about half a meter lower than where it has to be to cause major damage.

“We’re really kind of in that last bit of trying to squeeze as much melt out of the snow as we can through the Fraser and we could see some additional rises this week as that melt comes up a little bit. I think, in a lot of ways, we did dodge a bit of a bullet over the last week or so here on the Fraser particularly.”

Higher than normal snow packs could also cause problems for anyone living along the North and South Thompson rivers, as well as parts of the Boundary-Kootenay region and heavy rainfall could lead to more flooding heading into June.

Across BC, approximately 700 properties remain under 40 evacuation orders and 36 local states of emergency are still in effect.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham is also offering support to farmers and ranchers who’ve lost livestock since May 7th or need to temporarily re-locate animals.

“We’re also responding quickly to farmers and ranchers who are seeking advice related to the flooding and working with the BC Agriculture Council to help their 20-thousand members be prepared as best as they can for emergencies as they’re coming up.”

She says no numbers have been finalized yet, but disaster relief and insurance payouts are being coordinated.

“We also have industry-specific emergency guides for beef, dairy, pork, poultry and small farms to help livestock producers plan. We have provincial support for commercial livestock relocation if that’s needed.”

Chris Duffy with Emergency Management BC says close to 300 Canadian Forces personnel and nearly 400 wildfire workers are still staged in areas where they’re needed most.