Heavy rainfall, floods and washouts in BC

I guess it is that time of year again.

Heavy rainfall over the past weekend has caused flooding and washouts in the lower mainland and southeast parts of the province. A number of highway closures are in effect. Rainfall was measured at up to 200mm over a two day period around Vancouver.

Rivers around Vancouver were rising at a rate of 10 to 13cm per hour on Sunday. Environment Canada issued a flood warning for the Coquitlam and Nicomeckl rivers.

The weather has now changed with a dryer forecast ahead, but this is a good reminder to check the highway and weather reports if you are doing any traveling in BC at this time of year. Especially if there has been a period of continued rainfall. For example, two highway sections near Hope were closed for rockslides and mudslides. The highway between Golden and Revelstoke was closed for similar concerns.

Spring appears to be coming early, and snowpacks in the mountains are at their highest levels in years, if not decades. If we have a prolonged period of warm weather and rains, we could be in for another round of high water levels and debris slides.

As a side note, the logging industry usually slows down at this time of year, because roads become too soft and rains are more likely to cause runoff and sedimentation. Activities like ground based harvesting and hauling are normally shut down until dryer weather comes and forest roads firm up.