Practice caution around rivers, streams in wet weather: BC River Forecast Centre

Be extra careful around streams and rivers in Metro Vancouver this week, an expert from the BC River Forecast Centre advises.

Dave Campbell, head of the organization, says a combination of high streamflow advisories and flood watches is making for dangerous conditions.

Flood watch areas span from the mountains on the North Shore to the Sea to Sky highway and along the Sunshine Coast.

“That’s really where we’ve seen some of the heaviest rainfall over the past 24 or 48 hours or so, upwards of a couple 100 millimeters over that two-day period, so yeah, it’s quite a lot,” said Campbell. “Rivers are really responding to that rainfall.”

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The river isn’t flowing so quickly that Campbell’s concerned, although they have certainly seen rapid rises in the water levels, he says.

But it isn’t just the rain adding to the wet conditions. In combination with storms and melting snowcaps, “a spray of moisture that’s coming off the Pacific from the subtropics” has left the areas surrounding Metro Vancouver soaked.

“We typically get maybe eight to 10 of these a year, so it’s a bit early to say whether they are more frequent this year, but we’re certainly keeping an eye on that,” says Campbell, of notable weather events like droughts and floods.

He suggests British Columbians use abundant caution if they plan to visit rivers or creeks in the heavy rain.