Paradise Valley residents placed on flood evacuation alert as new storm system moves in
John French
[email protected]
The memory of October 2003 is haunting residents this week as floodwaters in the 樱桃视频Valley rose this week.
While Squamish's dyke system held through this week's storm, emergency crews and those who live near the waters are still bracing for the possibility of flooding as another storm front moves in today (Jan. 21).
Late Wednesday night (Jan. 19), residents of the Paradise Valley were told to be ready to leave their homes on very short notice. The warnings were delivered as rain fell, river and stream levels were rising, snow was melting and frozen ground prevented the runoff from percolating deep down into the ground.
With water rising in many of the usual flood-prone areas and also in areas that don't usually have water worries, the District of 樱桃视频decided to open an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). Local officials gathered early on Wednesday (Jan. 19) to use the new EOC space at the recently completed home of the RCMP and the 樱桃视频Emergency Program on Finch Drive.
Chris Whale of B.C. Hydro in 樱桃视频said he was staying in touch with the EOC as concern started to rise for the Paradise Valley.
"We're assessing the situation right now and checking on river levels with our people out in the field," Whale said late Wednesday.
"We've increased the spill from Daisy [Lake] now and making decisions on a going forward basis," he said.
Heading into this weekend an overnight forecast of 4.5 millimetres an hour didn't materialize through the early morning hours of Thursday (Jan. 20), much to the relief of emergency workers and 樱桃视频Mayor Ian Sutherland.
"In the last nine hours or so the water levels have been doing down in the river, which is a positive thing," Sutherland said at noon on Thursday.
By Thursday afternoon the dam was releasing more water than was coming into the reservoir.
"There is more capacity in the dam for what may or may not happen this weekend," Sutherland said.
"The plan right now is that the EOC will stay open through the weekend and staffing will go up or down depending on what happens with the weather. It will remain open until at least Sunday or Monday."
Sutherland said that while keeping an eye on the bigger picture with the local rivers DOS crews were doing the best they could to deal with drainage and run-off issues.
"We're responding to all those things to the best of our ability," Sutherland said after praising DOS staff for their work the last few days.
As the local crews worked to clean out culverts and get water running to where it is supposed to go the, pumps at various places along the 樱桃视频River were pushing water from local streams and sloughs over the dyke and into the big river.
"The pumps are all doing what they are supposed to do and we've brought in extra pumps to act as backup up and to give us more capacity if we need it," Sutherland said. "The system is working as it is supposed to work. Things are looking fairly positive right now."
Sutherland said that the new EOC is working well and he notes that it is helpful for emergency co-ordinators to have more space and extra phones.
The water level in the Mamquam and 樱桃视频rivers went up this week after 57 mm of rain fell on Monday followed by 59 mm more on Tuesday.
Environment Canada reported that 66 mm fell on Wednesday while a heavy rainfall warning was in place for the Howe Sound area. Nearly 200 mm of rain fell in that three-day period after 5.6 mm fell on Sunday, mainly in the form of snow.
David Jones of Environment Canada said no precipitation records were broken in the storm cycle."Not even close," he said as his investigation into Squamish's weather history turned up multiple days with rainfalls of more than 100 mm.
He concluded that the cold weather on the weekend formed a thick layer of ground frost that prevented the rainwater from seeping into the ground.
A heavy rainfall warning was still in place at The Chief's press deadline with the rain expected to end Thursday (Jan. 20).
The forecast called for the chance of showers Thursday night followed by a 60 per cent chance of showers Friday morning. Rain is expected to fall through this weekend with the liquid onslaught easing to periods of rain Monday.
Concerns about the weather and potential flooding became serious when B.C. Hydro reported that a green alert was placed on the Daisy Lake Reservoir in the middle of this week. When green alerts are upgraded to a yellow alert it means that the Cheakamus River is full to the top of its banks and some flooding is expected.
The District of 樱桃视频reported in a news release that during a yellow alert Midnight Way and Elkin's Lane are most prone to flooding. Both areas were hit hard in the 2003 flood.
Early Thursday Paradise Valley residents were advised that a state of emergency declaration wasn't anticipated but conditions would be monitored by the DOS, the Provincial Emergency Program, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, the 樱桃视频Nation and B.C. Hydro.
Water flow data in the 樱桃视频River near Brackendale provided by Environment Canada indicated that the level from Jan. 12 to 17 was between 1.6 and 2.25 metres. On Tuesday (Jan. 18) the river depth started climbing and peaked at about six metres on Wednesday (Jan. 19). The rain eased and the level started dropping.
A water depth of six metres in the 樱桃视频is significant but at the height of the flood in 2003 the water crept close to the top of the dykes. The water depth on Oct. 18 and 19, 2003 was 9.5 metres.
The DOS decided to make sandbags available to residents like Ken Mehan of Chestnut Drive, who needed a few bags to prevent his basement from flooding.
He said water was running down his driveway, into his carport and threatening to come in through his carport door.
Local firefighters were at the public works yard filling bags and making them available to people with water issues.
The home at 40517 Highlands Way North, a place with no history of flooding, was cut off from the street when the culvert below the driveway washed out under the pressure of an aggressive stream that developed in the ditch. The gushing water took out the bottom of the driveway and DOS staff were forced to open a manhole beside the driveway of the home next door to allow the fast-flowing water to be directed into the manhole and directly into the DOS wastewater system.
As a precaution for those living in the Garibaldi Highlands area, a boil water advisory was issued for that area of Squamish.
The warning to boil drinking water for two minutes was a result of the heavy rainfall this week."Our water treatment system is working however we can not assure complete disinfection of the water," the DOS news release said.
The advisory was put in place Wednesday at 9:31 a.m. and as of The Chief's press deadline the boil water advisory was still in place.
By late Thursday morning flooding concerns eased but emergency personnel were not relaxing. All are keenly aware that a new storm front is approaching and expected to drop more rain into already swollen rivers and creeks over the course of the weekend.
