Atmospheric river passes in southern B.C., area rivers still rising
Posted October 19, 2023 4:36 pm.
The rain that has been drenching parts of southern B.C. has helped ease drought concerns in some areas, but rising river levels are leading to some concerns.
Rainfall warnings across Vancouver Island and the inner South Coast have lifted for the most part, but flood watches posted by the B.C. River Forecast Centre across western Vancouver Island and for the Englishman River near Parksville warn of levels seen only once every 10 years on some waterways.
High streamflow advisories and the risk of local flooding cover the rest of Vancouver Island, most of the inner south coast north of Vancouver, and the Interior regions of the Upper Columbia, North and South Thompson.
Environment Canada says the mild, subtropical surge of moisture that created B.C.’s latest atmospheric river Tuesday and Wednesday has mostly passed, with rain still falling throughout Thursday.
According to the agency, the storm had dumped 233 millimetres of rain at the Kennedy Lake forestry station east of Ucluelet by late Wednesday and at least 172 millimetres at the Tofino airport, while parts of Metro Vancouver received up to 100 millimetres.
The accumulations mark the heaviest downpours across the South Coast in almost a year. Environment Canada records show the greatest deluge before that was during the atmospheric river in November 2021, which caused devastating flooding, washouts, and landslides from Metro Vancouver to the southern Interior.
Drought levels drop in some areas
Meanwhile, the rain has also helped add some much-needed moisture to some areas of the province.
The West Vancouver Island Basin has now dropped to Drought Level 1 — the second lowest on the six-level scale — where “adverse impacts (are) rare.”
The east island basin is now at Drought Level 2, which the province says means “adverse impacts (are) unlikely.”
The Lower Mainland, meanwhile, has also dropped to Drought Level 2.
While there have been some improvements in parts of B.C., the northeast continues to see dry conditions, with a number of areas still classified as Drought Level 4 or 5, meaning adverse impacts are “likely” or “almost certain.”
Those levels are the highest on the scale.
