The temperature’s rising‚ and so are water levels.
Salmon River and Chase Creek are the two Shuswap watercourses on the BC River Centre’s radar this week.
While snowpacks that feed area rivers and streams are only slightly above normal, the long-term weather forecast is suggesting the period of May 8 to 17 will see much higher than normal temperatures, something that will speed up the melt.
And residents that live in areas that have flooded before, should buy and stack sand bags to protect their properties.
“My encouragement to citizens is to ensure equipment is moved, along with other stuff they don’t want to get wet,” says Columbia Shuswap Regional District emergency plan co-ordinator Cliff Doherty, noting residents are responsible for preparedness work on their properties and that local government steps in to protect lives only when flooding is occurring or imminent.
“Only when it becomes a region-wide emergency event does the Shuswap Emergency Program open the vaults that contain our stockpile of sandbags.”
John Rosenberg, City of Salmon Arm manager of roads and parks is in charge of the local flood watch. He is concerned about infrastructure that could be endangered by rising lake levels.
As of Friday, the lake level was at 346.7 metres.
“It’s a long way from when we have worry,” he says, pointing out he and his staff start hauling out the emergency plan and doing daily lake watches when the level reaches 348 metres. “We’re still four feet away from doing anything and 349 metres is when we start getting concerned‚ and we’re still eight feet away from that.”
Rosenberg says the river dropped 0.2m following the torrential rains two weeks ago. He notes of the two snowpacks that impact the lake, Celista Mountain is slightly above normal and Park Mountain is just below.
While a sustained period of warm weather may speed up the melting process at higher elevations, David Campbell, chief forecaster with the BC River Forecast Centre, says the milder temperatures experienced a couple of weeks ago, melted a “chunk” of lower and mid-level snow.
Campbell says data collected early in April showed area snowpacks are fairly near normal levels. He expects data collected at the beginning of May will reveal more of the same.
“April 1 is near peak, we don’t get a lot of snow between April and May,” he says. “There’s been a slight increase in snowpack and a slight delay in snow melt.”
With the Salmon River at half capacity as of Friday and Chase Creek at one-third capacity, Campbell said this week would be critical in terms of flooding of either watercourse.
As well, Campbell said if the high temperatures continue into the following week, flooding on the Eagle River could also become an issue.
As to larger watercourses such as the Shuswap River and the Seymour River which are fed from higher elevations, they tend to peak later, towards the end of May or early June.
Meanwhile, for area residents who need sand bag protection, the empty bags are available at Cardinal Equipment and Buckerfields in Salmon Arm. Sand is available at Salmon Arm Redi Mix, Blackburn Excavating and Zappone Bros Contracting in Salmon Arm and Mara Sand and Gravel in Sicamous.
Visit www.csrd.bc.ca for more information on sand-bagging and other emergency measures.
