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Grand Forks residents brace for flooding

Click to play video: 'Grand Forks flooding fears rise'
Grand Forks flooding fears rise
Evacuation alerts have been issued to 241 homes in Grand Forks. Jules Knox reports on the latest flooding in the area. – May 8, 2018
Click to play video: 'Grand Forks flooding update'
Grand Forks flooding update
Evacuation alerts have been issued to 241 homes in Grand Forks. Jules Knox reports on the latest flooding in the area. – May 15, 2018

Flooding fears are rising in Grand Forks, B.C.

Evacuation alerts have been issued to 241 homes.

City Park is swamped with water.

“I’ve been here 20 years, and I haven’t seen it like this. Not this high,” Grand Forks resident Jo-Ann Doucette said.

Volunteers have filled more than 13,000 sandbags so far.

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Many residents said they’re being more proactive with sandbagging after last year’s flooding.

“Everyone’s kind of prepared right, whereas last year, nobody was, [it] kind of caught everyone offguard,” Grand Forks resident Denis Farley.

The snowpack in the Boundary region is 238 per cent of normal.

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And with wetter weather likely on the way, officials are concerned evacuation alerts will be turned into orders, forcing people from their homes.

“There’s a lot more water to come down yet. And it’s trouble,” Grand Forks resident Cam Malkinson said.

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Leona Robinson said she’s struggling to move her animals as they’re left with a shrinking patch of land. Her property is flooded.

“I’m very, very worried,” she said.

The Kettle River usually peaks in Grand Forks around 6 p.m. in the evening.

Officials said water levels continue to rise everyday.

“We’re expecting peaks in the river systems sometime Thursday or Friday, with some relief on Saturday,” Chris Marsh, Grand Forks’ emergency operations centre director, said. “Of course, that’s dependent on precipitation.”

“We’re preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best,” he said.

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