A specialized diking system has been installed along Wardle Street and Seventh Avenue in Hope and authorities are warning of consistently high water levels along the Fraser River until the end of next week.
“The district may still see a 2012 flooding level but it becomes less likely as every day passes,” an update issued by the District of Hope Monday reads. A high streamflow advisory is still in place from Lytton through Hope and the Fraser Valley as the River Forecast Centre expects river levels to stay high this week and into the weekend.
Posted by Ken Gulliman on Saturday, May 19, 2018
“With hot weather forecast over the headwater tributaries in the Upper Fraser and Thompson River basins, increased snowmelt runoff may lead to higher flows along the lower Fraser River into the coming weekend,” the May 22 advisory stated. “Current modelling is indicating that flows should remain near current levels, however increases above current levels are possible.”
The district installed a gabion basket diking system over the weekend along Seventh Avenue and Wardle Street, a move Mayor Wilfried Vicktor said was the right one.
“It’s good to be overcautious as opposed to underprepared, so it’s good the district did what it did,” he said, adding while the diking system was not needed over the weekend, there is still a lot of water coming down the Fraser and warm temperatures persisting. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
The cost of the system is 100 per cent recoverable from the province, the district’s chief administrative officer John Fortoloczky confirmed.
Forty-four evacuation alerts were issued to Hope residents May 18, as the Hope gauge peaked at 10,800 cubic metres per second (m3/s). The gauge is decreasing from a peak of 11,100 m3/s Sunday, reading 10,600 m3/s as of press time.
The 44 residences that received evacuation alerts are in the following areas only: Wardle Street between Seventh Avenue and Allison Avenue, the eastern portion of Tom Berry Road, Bristol Island, the eastern portion of Haig Station Road and the western portion of Landstrom Road.
The alerts a preliminary measure, allowing residents to take precautions should the flooding get worse.
“They are a preliminary warning to those residences that may be affected, if flooding gets worse,” Fortoloczky said. “That’s all we’re doing, we’re giving the heads up.”
Last week, the district predicted the Fraser River would reach 2012 levels, Fortoloczky confirmed that no evacuations occurred in the Hope area that year.
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