Prince George, BC – With record snowpack levels in the upper mountains this year, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George is keeping a watchful eye on the spring freshet.

"To no one’s surprise, the snowpack is quite high," says Regional District spokesperson Reneé McCloskey.  "We use 2007 asa recent benchmark year for major flooding and the snowpack levels were slightly less at this time of year back then, than what they are right now."

But McCloskey says there’s so many variables that impact how the melt occurs – a sudden increase in temperature, a lot of rain, etc – that it really depends what kind of weather the region gets over the next six weeks.

"At this point, there’s no trouble spots," she says.  "If we do get calls, it’s more groundwater issues as opposed to spring freshet run-off.  Really, right now, we’re just kind of preparing ourselves and making sure we’re ready if we do start to see some flooding events happen in and around the region."

McCloskey is reminding residents living on rural properties to take some proactive measures before the run-off reallly gets flowing – things like clearing debris from any culverts on their properties to ensure spring water can flow through without any blockage, and having a pump on-hand for any basement flooding. 

Officials from the regional district will have a booth at this weekend’s home show where they’ll have more information available, or you can go to the website, by clicking here.