Mission Creek Downgraded to Flood Watch High Flow Advisory – Okanagan | Globalnews.ca

Mission Creek in Kelowna is no longer under a flood watch.

On Tuesday, the BC River Forecast Center downgraded Mission Creek to a high flow advisory from a flood watch after two days of periodic rain.

The Forest Ministry says Mission Creek’s flow peaked on July 4 at 55 cubic meters per second, then receded to 41.2 cubic meters per second on Monday night. Currently, the stream flows at 37 cubic meters per second.

“A period of unsettled weather brought rainfall, including locally intense thunderstorms, to southern British Columbia,” the Ministry of Forestry said.

“Between 10 and 40mm of rain has fallen across the region since July 3. However, given the convective nature of this precipitation, it is likely that specific regions and basins have seen more rainfall and higher rainfall rates in the last 24 hours.”

While Mission Creek has been degraded, the southern interior, including the Okanagan, Similkameen, Boundary and West Kootenay regions, and southeastern BC remain under a high flow advisory.

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Looking ahead, the ministry says current forecasts suggest a continued downturn in the flow.

“In fact, weather forecasts for the southern Interior indicate less rainfall totals by the end of the week than we experienced in the last 72 hours, although unsettled weather is forecast to continue through Friday,” the ministry said.

“Convective rainfall is difficult to forecast accurately and precisely in advance, so this high current flow remains in place for the southern interior in recognition that unsettled weather is forecast through the end of this week, where smaller watersheds are more vulnerable to the impact of regionally intense storms.

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