The flood watch for the Chilcotin has been upgrade to a flood warning by the BC River Forecast Centre.
Waterways impacted are the Chilcotin River, Taseko River, Chilko River, Big Creek and surrounding tributaries draining from the Chilcotin Mountains.
Members of the public are advised to stay clear of the fast-flowing rivers and potentially unstable riverbanks during the high streamflow period.
Read more: Taseko, Chilcotin, Chilko rivers under flood watch
As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, the forecast centre shared the following data:
The Chilcotin River near Hanceville is currently flowing at approximately 414 cubic metres per second, which is between a 10 and 20‐year flow and continues to rise.
The Taseko River near the outlet of Taseko Lake is estimated to be flowing at approximately 241 cubic metres per second, which is at a 20‐year flow and continues to rise.
The Chilko River near Redstone is currently flowing at approximately 463 cubic metres per second which is between 20 and 50‐year flow rates and continues to rise.
As of 11 a.m., Wednesday, the River Forecast Centre is issuing to a High Streamflow Advisory for the Central Coast
including Bella Coola River and tributaries and Kliniklini River.
With the heat wave, extremely high temperatures are triggering unprecedented snowmelt at higher elevations.
The few automated snow weather stations in the province with remaining snowpack are melting at extraordinary rates of 50‐100 mm per day of snow water equivalent, the BC River Forecast Centre bulletin noted, adding Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) forecasts one more extremely hot day today for the Chilcotin region.
“Temperatures are forecast to cool tomorrow but remain well above normal for this time of year. Due to the delay of flows coming out of the larger lake systems (e.g. Chilko Lake and Taseko Lakes) downstream rivers are forecast to continue rising into the weekend.
A Flood Warning means that river levels have exceeded bankfull or will exceed bankfull imminently, and that flooding of areas adjacent to the rivers affected will result.
Read more: Severe thunderstorm potential for Cariboo: Environment Canada
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