The village of Cache Creek, shown in a handout photo, is maintaining a state of local emergency due to flooding.HO/The Canadian Press
Large swaths of British Columbia’s Interior remained under flood warning Saturday as warm weather and heavy rain in the forecast put many communities on high alert for rising water levels.
The City of Grand Forks, about 530 kilometres east of Vancouver, added 10 properties on the city’s waterfront to its evacuation alert list, as the Granby and Kettle rivers saw “fast-moving waters represent a significant hazard.”
The announcement, which told residents to be ready to evacuate on short notice, was in addition to several evacuation alerts that had already been issued in and around Grand Forks, as well as in communities such as Christina Lake and Midway in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary.
In the nearby Regional District of Central Kootenay, almost 900 properties in the village of Salmo, and its neighbouring communities of Erie and Ymir were under evacuation alert, as well as several properties in Duhamel Creek.
Flood warnings were also in effect Saturday in parts of the Okanagan, with the Okanagan Indian Band issuing an evacuation order for a small number of homes along Whiteman’s Creek. Okanagan Falls properties adjacent to Shuttleworth Creek were also under an evacuation alert.
The River Forecast Centre has also added a flood watch to the Upper Fraser basin and tributaries upstream of Prince George, B.C., 780 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Hundreds of residents in British Columbia’s southern and central Interior have been warned they may have to leave quickly if flood waters move in.
Flood warnings, watches and advisories covered about half of the province, although the areas most under threat are the Boundary and Thompson regions.
Heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, following a week of record-setting temperatures that melted the snowpack, has swollen rivers and creeks and set off mudslides.
The province said it deployed more than 200,000 sandbags to communities including Grand Forks and Cache Creek.
Cache Creek has been hit particularly hard, with water flowing through homes and businesses.
The Ministry of Transportation said it was putting equipment and materials at key locations and keeping an eye on infrastructure that may need to be reinforced.