Williams Lake Area Evacuees to Get Further Info at Little Fort
Prince George, B.C. – While an evacuation order has been issued for Williams Lake, there is still some confusion as to where the evacuees are supposed to go. Directions from the Cariboo Regional District and the City of Williams Lake both advise evacuees head south on highway 97, east on highway 24, then south on highway 5 to Kamloops. A note on the CRD’s facebook page has only muddied the waters.
The CRD posted this notice on its facebook page:
“ATTENTION: Currently, ,emergency accommodation in Kamloops is nearing capacity. Ongoing arrangements are being made to determine the best destination to accommodate everyone. There will be further information provided in Little Fort as the intersection of Highway 25 and Highway 5. Updates will also be posted on our facebook page.”
The facebook page can be reached by clicking here
The call for evacuees to head south caught many off guard, as it was generally thought they would be directed north to Prince George. However, the flames have jumped highway 97 at Soda Creek, and the highway has been closed at that location. So ‘plan B’ was put into motion.
There is still a likelihood that some of the Williams Lake evacuees will be directed to Prince George, however, it is not known how many Prince George may expect.
Earlier today, it was noted Prince George is housing more than 7,000 evacuees and P.G. Mayor, Lyn Hall says the city has the capacity “for many more” and is prepared to provide the necessary services “for as long as it takes.”
Comments
What a very stressful situation and to add the uncertainty and length of travel for them.
Prince George is anticipated to handle up to 20,000 evacuees, we currently have about 7000. So we can another 13,000. I have talked to a store that thinks we have the supplies for that number
I wonder whether supplies are coming from Edmonton along Hwy16 yet. If we get cut off from Vancouver, I guess that will have to be the alternate supply route.
It will be interesting to follow the aftermath of all this to see what the government will do to provide improved safety around the urbanized centres.
PG could certainly have a new look at its situation since a wildfire within 10km could certainly wipe out the outer edges of the city at worst and smoke the citizens out of their neigbourhoods at best.
Supplies are coming Edmonton as well as Vancouver on the long route
I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a plan in place to ship via aircraft and special train runs as well
Well be surprised because that is simply not economically viable as an option seeing as 16 is under no threat of closure and the highway north of here has zero chance of closure at this time.
Comments for this article are closed.