Several B.C. regions still under drought level after heavy rain
Posted October 31, 2022 5:47 pm.
Last Updated October 31, 2022 5:48 pm.
While the rainy season appears to be underway in British Columbia, recent rainfall didn’t do much to alleviate drought conditions in some areas.
As of Monday, there are 14 areas experiencing Level 4 or 5 drought conditions, according to the BC Drought Map. Much of the Lower Mainland, all of Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and a large portion of northeastern B.C. are still under the highest two levels of drought.
Head of the BC River Forecast Centre, Dave Campbell, says this weekend’s atmospheric river that brought close to 300 mm of rain to the area was a good start to replenishing water levels.
“The one spot we were maybe seeing a little bit of a slower recovery is in areas where we do have the lakes and the reservoirs, and it’s just taking a little bit more time to replenish the kind of levels that are in those. So, there we’re seeing a little bit slower uptake in terms of kind of rebounding in those lakes and reservoirs,” he told CityNews.
“Certainly I don’t think it’ll be too long before we’ve seen more significant recovery and all those are areas where we’ve got issues still.”
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The Sunshine Coast has been a particularly hard-hit area by drought, with a State of Local Emergency declared on Oct. 17 over impacts to the main water supply. It led to businesses having to stop using the water supply for non-essential reasons.
In an update posted Monday, the region says the recent rain “increased the flow in Chapman Creek,” and the part of the state of emergency pertaining to businesses will be lifted on Tuesday. The region will remain under a State of Local Emergency until Nov. 7, with other water conservation efforts remaining in place.
In a statement, Director of Emergency Operations for the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), Remko Rosenboom, says the main reservoirs in the community rely on rain.
“This year, we have almost skipped fall weather at higher elevations, having transitioned quickly from an extended summer drought to winter freezing conditions,” he said.
The SCRD says it will consider reimposing restrictions if temperatures impact the Chapman Creek flow.
Campbell says the Sunshine Coast region, along with much of southwestern B.C., should be seeing heavy rainfall in the weeks ahead.
“So two, three four-hundred millimeters by the time we get into the early part of November here. That’s definitely a significant amount of rain. And it certainly contrasts that the dry weather where we probably had a deficit of about that much,” he said.
