Multiple communities on B.C.’s south coast reported flooding impacts and evacuation measures as heavy rain increased flows into the Cheakamus Dam and rivers are expected to peak.
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A procession of storms drenched parts of southwestern British Columbia with more than 300 millimetres of rain over 48 hours, contributing to rising water levels, flooding impacts and evacuation orders and alerts across the region.
In the Squamish area, residents in the Paradise Valley Road flood zone north of Squamish said river waters swollen by heavy rain and a Cheakamus Dam spill affected access to their homes. Peter Spitzer, sheltering in place near the confluence of the Cheakamus River and Culliton Creek, said parts of Paradise Valley Road were flooded and that water under the now-closed Bailey Bridge was "very close to the top."
The District of Squamish said the spill level from the Cheakamus Dam at Daisy Lake peaked at approximately 5 a.m. and was expected to decrease slowly throughout Thursday, a change the district said would create room in the reservoir for more rain and eventually allow roads to reopen. It added that river levels were also expected to peak Thursday.
B.C. Hydro spokesperson Whitney Deane said forecasters originally expected the inflow rate into the reservoir to peak at 235 cubic metres per second by midday Thursday, but that the company issued a flood warning at 11 p.m. Wednesday and that inflows peaked at 735 cubic metres per second about an hour later. Deane said, "That’s roughly three times the forecast coming at a much shorter window," and described the tighter timing as a result of back-to-back storms.
Although Environment Canada lowered most rainfall warnings by Thursday, yellow warnings remained in place for west and inland Vancouver Island, where heavy rains were forecast to last into Friday afternoon. The forecast was tied to a frontal system, with Environment Canada saying a strong system over the area would weaken today and "Rain will continue to ease as the front weakens."
Across the region, rainfall amounts in the last 48 hours included 248 mm at Kennedy Lake on Vancouver Island, 123 mm in Port Alberni, 140 mm at Porteau Cove on the Sea to Sky Highway, 138 mm in Whistler and 134 mm in Squamish. The storms were also associated with temperature spikes that broke daily records in more than 30 locations on Wednesday, including Abbotsford where the high reached 20.1 C, surpassing a 45-year record by three degrees.
Evacuation measures expanded in multiple areas. The entire village of Pemberton, with a population of about 3,400, was placed under an evacuation alert "out of an abundance of caution." Pemberton’s evacuation order covered properties on Airport Road, including the community’s airport, wastewater treatment facility, wildland fire management base and a public golf course.
Elsewhere on Vancouver Island, the Strathcona Regional District issued a water conservation notice for Sayward due to extra sediment in water as a result of high flows in Newcastle Creek. An evacuation order also remained in place for about 30 properties in Zeballos on northwest Vancouver Island due to flooding and landslide risks.
In the central Interior, the Lil’wat Nation expanded an evacuation order and alert along the Lillooet River corridor from Kwetsa7 to Lillooet Lake. The B.C. Ministry of Transportation’s DriveBC said Highway 99 east of Pemberton was shut in both directions.
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