B.C. grappling with flood waters, mudslides

#Floods, #BritishColumbia, #Okanagan, #Canada #Rainfall, #Mudslide, #Environment Canada, River Forecast Centre 

Vancouver, May 8 (Canadian-Media): British Columbia (BC), on the west coast province of Canada, had spent the weekend struggling with rising floodwaters, caused by continuous rainfall, media reports said.

Flooding. Image credit: Wikipedia

On Friday Environment Canada had issued severe thunderstorm advisories for floods B.C.’s central and southern Interior.

Evacuation orders had been issued on several properties in and around Okanagan Lake and Kelowna and state of emergency had been declared in the City of West Kelowna, Kelowna, and the Fintry Delta.
 
Warnings had been issued to residents to stay away from lake shores and river banks, and to avoid driving through flooded areas

Residents were also urged to learn to recognize danger signs, such as change in water colour or rapid water level rise, and to protect their homes.

Residents had been putting sandbags outside their homes hoping to keep the water away.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark was in Cache Creek late Saturday morning to survey part of the damage.

A search for Cache Creek’s missing fire chief, and a senior, in the Shuswap area east of Kamloops, had resumed.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the mudslide hit Sunnybrae Canoe Point Road in Tappen, east of Salmon Arm, early Saturday morning.

Crews were initially called out at midnight, but had to pull back as conditions worsened.

"It sounded like a freight train coming down the mountain ... We heard trees snapping and it got louder and louder, so we got out of there," Schneider, a local resident was quoted as saying by CBC news.

On Saturday morning, an evacuation alert remained in effect for 90 properties on Okanagan Lake in the Fintry Delta area, south of Fintry Provincial Park.

In the Kamloops area, properties along Cherry Creek just outside of the city were under evacuation order.

There were also warnings of imminent flooding with more rain from Mission Creek to East Kelowna and areas near Vernon, B.C.

Numerous instances of pooling water or flooding on highways were reported from as far north as Kamloops and as far south as Kelowna, and as far west as Cache Creek and as far east as Revelstoke.

Boil water advisories had been issued to users of the Lower Sage Mesa Water System, northwest of Penticton, at the south end of Okanagan Lakewere due to high turbidity.

City of Vernon and Westbank First Nation IR#9.Boil also received boil  water  advisories.

The Thompson-Nicola Region Emergency Operations Centre had been set up for residents who have been told to evacuate immediately.

Rescue operation team had been coordinating rescues and supplying sandbags to residents hit by various floods.

On Sunday, some parts of B.C’s interior, rising waters had started receding after parts of the region, for the past three days,  had been hit by floods .

Dry weather conditions were likely improve in  the Shuswap, Okanagan and Boundary regions, according to River Forecast Centre.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)