Fraser Valley residents urged to prepare now for potential flooding

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The Fraser Valley Regional District has told residents and property owners to prepare for the possibility of flooding later this spring.

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Every year in BC there is a potential for flooding from melting snowpacks in the mountains that feed streams and rivers.

The concern this year is that an unseasonably cool spring, which has left high snowpack levels in many of the regions in the province, could lead to flooding if there is a heat wave in June.

The BC River Forecast Center has said that a combination of several days of intense heat directly followed by heavy rain is the worst-case scenario.

Residents are being alerted out of an abundance of caution, Fraser Valley Regional District chairperson Jason Lum said Sunday.

“The closer we inch to summer, the more likely we are to have a rapid snow melt, so we are asking people to get prepared now. It’s everybody’s responsibility to ensure that they have their own emergency preparedness kits ready and that they are monitoring the communication channels from their respective emergency officials,” said Lum.

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“It’s one of those things where we obviously hope for the best, but prepare for any challenges that should arise,” added Lum, a Chilliwack city councilor who had to evacuate his home during last fall’s extreme flooding.

In a recent bulletin, the province’s river forecast center noted that BC’s mountain snowpack had reached its highest level for May 15 in a decade.

The average snowpack across BC increased to 128 per cent of normal in the previous two weeks and is even higher in the Fraser River headwaters, as high as 149 per cent in the Quesnel area in north-central BC

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Weather conditions in the coming weeks will determine the timing, magnitude, and rate of snowmelt — and where heavy rainfall can exacerbate snowmelt.

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The river forecast center said there is a risk that an extreme heat wave in late May or June could create peak flows similar to 1948 or 1972 for the Fraser River that caused extensive flooding.

The forecast for the coming week in the Fraser Valley is for rain and warming temperatures.

The Fraser Valley Regional District noted that the catastrophic flooding that happened in November 2021 also made many rivers more vulnerable to high flows from spring flooding.

The regional district pointed residents to recommendations from Emergency Management BC on preparing for floods, including taking steps such as storing valuable and important items or documents in watertight containers or in higher places such as a tall shelf.

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Residents are recommended to have an emergency plan that includes creating a master phone list, stocking up on water and emergency supplies and knowing how to turn off utilities such as gas and water.

In other areas of the province, the River Forecast Center upgraded the Peace region in northeast BC to a flood watch last week, and there was some roads flooded during the weekend.

Last week, the Bulkley River in northwest BC, including tributaries around Telkwa, Smithers and Hazelton, was put on a high-stream alert.

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