Prince George, B.C.- The current flooding situation in Prince George, is weather driven. Dave Jones of Environment Canada says the weather is settling down, but in the medium to long term, there is a low pressure system that is developing off the coast of B.C.. He says it will cover virtually all of the province and will spread more rain in the interior by the weekend. “These types of systems provide intermittent rain, and thundershowers”. He says the first blast will come late this week, with heavy rain from the south east right straight up to the northwest. That will continue through Sunday and is expected to last through to   next week, perhaps as late as Thursday.

 

Compounding the factor, there will be a “warm nose of air coming into the region” before the rain, and that will spur a speeding up of the snowpack melt.

 

Dave Campbell from the River Forecast Centre says the immediate situation is a combination of wet weather and rapid snow melt. “We’ve seen a pulse of water coming through Prince George, we are currently seeing the water rising at 1 to 1.5 centimetres per hour, so the rise is slowing, but the Fraser at South Fort is currently at 9.92 meters, and it should peak later today.”

 

Campbell says there is a potential for heavier snowmelt rates in addition to the expected rain for this weekend.

Campbell says this ongoing wet weather and delayed snowpack melt has forecasters thinking there could be further  surges next week. “We still have high snowpacks in the Skeena and Bulkley regions” says Campbell which could cause further flood concerns in those regions.

 

Chris Duffy of Emergency Management B.C.  says  three of the six emergency operations centres in the Province (including Prince George) have been activated. 

 

So far,  3.5 kilometres of gabion dykes  have been put in place in Prince George.  A further 8km of gabion dykes are in Chilliwack. The Province has 2 million sandbags available for use, and 1,000 wildfire fighters available to assist in filling and placing those sandbags.