Widespread flooding and evacuations in British Columbia

BC Transportation/Twitter

There are widespread evacuations and road closures in British Columbia as heavy rain floods portions of the province. Sunday night some motorists were trapped in their vehicles due to the dangerous conditions.

The City of Abbotsford has declared a Local State of Emergency and has issued an evacuation order for Sumas Mountain, DeLair Road, and Old Yale Road to the North, the United States Border to the South, Chilliwack City border to the East, the Ridge West of Railway to the West.

The City of Merritt has ordered a city-wide evacuation.

Several other areas have also ordered evacuations including:

• Cooks Ferry Indian Band

• Cowichan Valley Regional District

• District of Kent

• Fraser Valley Regional District

• Nooaitch Indian Band

• Regional District of East Kootenay

• Regional District of Nanaimo

• Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS)

• Squamish-Lillooet Regional District

• Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD)

• Town of Princeton

The heavy rain has caused widespread flooding that is impacting a number of highways and roads in British Columbia. Some roads have washed out, there are reports of landslides, and land instability. A complete list of road events can be found here.

Several emergency shelters have been established.

Abbotsford:

• Abbotsford Recreation Centre, 2499 McMillan Road

Agassiz:

• Agassiz Agricultural Hall, 6800 Pioneer Avenue (for evacuees from the Hwy #7 slides)

• Chilliwack: Chilliwack Senior Secondary, 46363 Yale Road

• Tradex, 1190 Cornell Street, Cowichan Valley Regional District:

• Cowichan Community Centre – 2687 James St, Duncan, BC V9L 2X5

• Cowichan Tribes Gym – 5574 River Rd, Duncan, BC V9L 6V9

Hope:

• Grace Baptist Church, 949 3 Ave, Hope, BC V0X 1L0

• Hope Secondary School, 444 Stuart St, Hope, BC V0X 1L0

Kelowna:

• Parkinson Activity Centre, 1700 Parkinson Way

Kamloops:

• McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre, 1655 Island Parkway

RDOS / Penticton:

• Bus Barn, 199 Ellis Street Penticton

Salmon Arm:

• The Prestige, 251 Harbourfront Drive

Environment and Climate Change Canada reported that over 290 mm of rain fell in British Columbia over 72 hours in the eastern Fraser Valley near Agassiz and Hope.

Below is a summary of rainfall amounts from 11 am on Saturday to 11 pm on Monday:

• YVR 119 mm

• Pitt Meadows 178 mm

• Cloverdale 169 mm

• White Rock 155 mm

• West Vancouver 157 mm

• Vancouver Harbour 135 mm

• Abbotsford 172 mm

• Agassiz 228 mm

• Chilliwack 219 mm

• Hope 252 mm

• Squamish 206 mm

• Port Mellon 193 mm

• Whistler 111 mm

• Sechelt 82 mm

• Powell River 65 mm

• YYJ 154 mm

• Victoria University 124 mm

• Esquimalt 102 mm

• Saanichton 164 mm

• Malahat 182 mm

• North Cowichan 150 mm

• Qualicum Beach 92 mm

• Kennedy Lake 143 mm

• Port Alberni 98 mm

• Entrance Island 78 mm

• Saturna Island 162 mm

• Princeton 48 mm

• Allison Pass 115 mm

• Coquihalla Summit 238 mm

• Lillooet 64 mm

• Lytton 95 mm

• Revelstoke 100 mm

• Nakusp 79 mm

• Coffee Creek 85 mm

• Sparwood 68 mm

• Morrissey 97 mm

Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada