Rain on the way as Abbotsford, other B.C. communities struggle with floods

With Abbotsford still dealing with mass flood zones in the Sumas Prairie, the latest forecast shows more rain is on the way.

This comes after a bit of a dry break for the region, after a devastating atmospheric river brought heavy precipitation to much of the southern part of B.C. just days ago.

CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says it’s just light showers to start the week, but “any rain is too much rain,” especially for the Fraser Valley and Interior regions.

“Up into Merritt and through Princeton, lots of locations across the South Coast and pushing inland into the Southern Interior. But that’s not a storm system we’re super concerned about, and it really doesn’t blanket the entire watershed with that much precipitation. It’s the Wednesday into Thursday weathermaker we’re keeping a closer eye on, and that one has the potential to bring in more substantial amounts of rain,” he explained.

Much needed mainly dry weekend on the way for Vancouver and the BC South Coast. @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/25ETEx2vZF

— Michael Kuss (@Kusswx) November 19, 2021

Kuss admits it’s hard to predict just how much rainfall to expect. However, he notes it isn’t expected to be like what we saw last weekend into Monday.

“It’s not going to be like an atmospheric river, pineapple express, it’s not that type of set up. It’s a front that moves through and pushing up against the mountains.”

He says early projections suggest we could see accumulations of 50 millimetres of rain, which is not entirely uncommon for the region.

Kuss admits, however, that even though we’ve seen a few dry days since the destructive storm that brought major flooding and mudslides to southern B.C. and Vancouver Island, there have only really been a handful of dry days the whole month of November so far.

He says the general weather patterns aren’t likely to change, making this fall into winter a wet one.

“It’s been an incredibly wet fall so far and, in fact, stretching back to the tail end of summer through September,” he said.

---

Related articles: 

• Abbotsford floodgates partially open, Sumas dike repairs progressing, says mayor

• ‘Not out of this by a long shot’: Abbotsford flooding situation remains critical

• Expert suggests Abbotsford infrastructure be rebuilt with climate change, disaster prevention in mind

---

Earlier this week, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said he was concerned by the upcoming weather system in the forecast.

He stressed the importance of getting dikes and breaches fixed, with work continuing around the clock to fix this critical infrastructure.

On Saturday, he said the floodgates at the Barrowtown Pump Station had been partially opened, releasing water from the Sumas into the Fraser River.

Braun added repairs were more than half done on the larger breach in the Sumas dike.

Warnings issued for North Coast

Rainfall is expected to be significant in some parts of the province, with Environment and Climate Change Canada issuing weather alerts warning of heavy precipitation, strong winds, and freezing temperatures.

The warning is in place until Tuesday, Nov. 23.

“Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather alerts for heavy rain associated with an atmospheric river cover Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert, Kitimat and the surrounding communities,” a release from the province reads. “The system is expected to reach the South Coast in a weakened state by Monday, Nov. 22, including regions that are vulnerable due to previous flooding.”

A definite change in tone/ approach from the province with a new storm approaching than ahead of last week’s storm (for which there was no notification like this from government)#bcpoli @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/etwUZTIDtO

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) November 20, 2021

The B.C. government notes the River Forecast Centre has also issued flood watches for the North Coast region, including the aforementioned communities.

-With files from Liza Yuzda