Skeena and other Northwest rivers past the danger stage?

While the hot weather continues to the east, officials believe that for the most part the danger of the Skeena River and other rivers of Northwest BC wreaking havoc in local communities may have passed.

Most of the snow pack that could possibly have caused troubles appears to have melted over the weekend, with many of the local rivers reaching their peak either on Sunday or Monday. While the rivers are still expected to run high over the next week, it is not expected that they will be causing any further concern to those communities that were placed on alert status last week.

While localized flooding may have closed such spots as the Exstew recreation site, for the most part larger centres such as Terrace seem to have be fortunate this year.

The most recent advisory from the Ministry of the Environment advised that rivers under those alerts would maintain close to their peak levels.

The latest statement outlines the near term prospects:

With the continuing warm weather expected to last all week, melt of high elevation snow continues, and rivers are not expected to recede significantly. They are expected to stay above warning levels for the next few days. Water levels are not anticipated to rise further from snowmelt alone.

Further rise in water level on these rivers will require significant rainfall. Environment Canada’s forecast for the next 5 days does not indicate potential for significant frontal or convective rain.

With little or no chance of rain anticipated in the forecast for the next number of days, a gradual decline of the river levels should continue, providing much in the way of relief for those that had a nervous weekend around the Northwest.

June 9-- Skeena River continues to recede
June 9-- North of Meziadan Junction closed
June 9-- Exstew Recreation site closed
June 9-- Flood watch on Skeena continues
June 9-- Skeena River reached its peak on Saturday
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Podunkian archives on the 2009 flooding

Evacuation alert orders issued for low lying areas around Terrace

The hot weather inland continues to increase the anxiety of local residents along Northwest river watersheds this weekend. On Saturday preparations began in earnest to make neighbourhoods and property lines secure from the rising waters of the Skeena and other rivers of the region.

While those preparations continued, Environment Canada issued a number of high flow and flood watch advisories for rivers of the Northwest, and the first evacuation alert order notices were issued for such locations as New Remo, Brauns Island and low lying areas of Queensway and Dutch Valley.

A number of residents of Usk and Old Remo have already made voluntary evacuations from their homes, relocating to a reception centre located in Terrace.

The Evacuation Alert Notice means that residents of those areas are on short notice for evacuation and should be prepared to move upon direction of officials from the Emergency Preparedness Organization.

So far there has not been any reports of major flooding in those areas of concern, nor has there been a need to close highways in the region at the moment. If that should come to pass, the Drive BC website will have full details on the status of Northwest highways.

The latest anticipated peak time for local rivers of the Northwest is now thought to be Monday, with the water level to arrive at just under 1 metre below the 2007 levels that left a trail of destruction along the rivers path.

We have full information on the latest details on the Skeena river situation posted to our Flood archive Watching the River Rise which you can find a link to here or on our right side columns listed under Items of Special Interest.

Skeena, Kitsumkalum, Nass rivers officially put on flood watch

Environment Canada issued a flood warning on Friday morning for the Skeena, Stikine and Nass Rivers.

With more hot weather anticipated in Terrace for the next two days, that makes for seven consecutive days of extreme heat conditions, the net result being the increase of the snowpack melt and a number of steadily rising rivers in the Northwest.

The Terrace Standard reported on Friday that sandbags were being distributed in the Terrace area for flood risk preparations in low lying areas of the city an emergency operations centre for the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District as well on Friday.

Environment Canada Flood Watch June 5 11:30 am Stikine River at Telegraph Creek

Environment Canada Flood Watch June 5 8:30 am Skeena, Nass, Kitsumkalum
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Podunk Archive of Flood coverage items

Skeena set to peak, possibly Sunday

It will be an anxious few days for residents of low lying areas of the Terrace area, the string of hot days has put the Big Melt into overdrive, with the Skeena river having risen by one metre in the last twenty four hours and the levels expected to continue to rise through the weekend.

Environment Canada says that Sunday will be the day to watch, with the river expected to peak on that day, though indications are that things may not be as dire as they were two years ago.

Readings made at Usk, show the river is three metres below the crucial twelve metre range, it was at that point in 2007 that the memorable floods occurred.

What officials are hoping for is a cooling trend, which would slow down the rate of the melting snow packs and the rush that they are in to reach the Skeena and other rivers of the Northwest.

The Terrace forecast calls for continuing warm temperatures in the high twenties through the weekend, with Friday's expected high to be thirty degrees. While the heat may pose a concern, one thing that is working on the side of local officials has been the lack of precipitation this week, which may be the difference between high water and flood conditions.
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Th City of Terrace has put in place a flood watch website for local residents to refer to for all the latest details and a facebook page has been created to keep an eye on the situation as well (though there is little in the way of current information posted so far, most items refer back to the 2007 flood).
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The Terrace Standard had the latest details posted on their website on Thursday afternoon.