High streamflow advisories, flood watches issued for much of southern B.C.

A series of high streamflow advisories and flood watches have been issued for southern British Columbia as an atmospheric river descends, bringing rain, heavy snow, strong winds and high tides.

The B.C. River Forecast Centre’s high streamflow advisories cover all of Vancouver Island, and the Skagit and Similkameen regions. The South Coast, Metro Vancouver, and Lower Fraser Valley, meanwhile, have been put on flood watch.

“When we see these heavy rainfall events, streamflows are very dynamic so things change quite quickly,” said Dave Campbell, head of the River Forecast Centre, in a Monday interview.

“There are concerns that we could see the potential for overbank flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, and in small creeks around the region where you’ve got the potential for road washouts, that kind of thing.”

2:15 B.C. evening weather forecast: Dec. 2

The Ministry of Transportation has said it was closing Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon at 7 p.m. as a precaution due to anticipated heavy rain and the risk of debris flows in the area from the summer’s Kookipi Creek wildfire.

People in the Kootenays are also being warned of up to 100 mm of rain possible on Highway 3 between the Paulson Summit and Kootenay Pass through Thursday morning.

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The Ministry of Emergency Management also distributed sandbags to 27 municipalities and First Nations, with another four million sandbags on standby if needed.

“This is really the third storm of three,” Campbell told Global News.

“We’re expecting the freezing levels to shoot up to about 2,500 metres above above the mountain tops and the local mountains, and that snow is going to melt, on top of upwards of 100 to 150 millimetres of rain in many areas … so certainly a lot of water coming into the rivers.”

— with files from The Canadian Press