Waters rising in flood-ravaged southern BC as residents brace for ’round two’

GRAND FORKS – Officials in southern BC say another surge of water is could begin to affect an already flood-damaged community near Grand Forks as early as this afternoon.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary says water levels are now rising in the Ruckle neighbourhood along the Granby River, just north of the Canada-U.S. border.

“Right now, as it stands, water levels are going up,” says Frances Maika with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary. “We’re expecting the hot weather over the next couple of days to continue with the snow melt, reaching a peak… forecast likely for about Saturday.”

But Maika says things could turn earlier than that. “That is that if we get the unsettled weather that’s forecast, and we do get the level of precipitation at the extreme end, we could see that peak occur sometime on Friday.”

The regional district says high water levels are “the start of round two’,’ as unseasonable heat rapidly melts snowpacks.

“We’re hoping that the river levels don’t reach the levels of the previous peak — and they’re unlikely to. But the forecast right now does show the Kettle River peaking above the 1948 record. So, it’s still extremely high. And if you add rain to that, and all the channels that have been cut by the last flood, we’re going to see big impacts,” says Maika.

Heavy rains combined with spring runoff to push floodwaters to levels not seen in 70 years in and around Grand Forks last week.

At least 1,500 homes in the district remain evacuated following that flooding and provincial officials say evacuation orders cover another 500 homes around the province, while more than 2,600 homes are on evacuation alert.

Emergency Management BC says the Boundary region and Similkameen Valley have already seen significant flooding, while risks are also high across the Okanagan and Shuswap regions.

Meantime, another community in the Okanagan Valley is declaring a local state of emergency because of the rising flood waters.

The Penticton Indian Band says there’s a risk some of the nearby creeks could spill their banks and the flows in the area’s watersheds are high.

The surrounding regional district has also declared a state of emergency.

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