Over 160 volunteers turned out yesterday to help sandbag at risk properties in Vanderhoof. Volunteer teams put in 3 hours of work and moved thousands of bags of sand.
Rio Tinto Alcan says good weather has slowed inflow into the Nechako Reservoir, extending the timeline before it reaches capacity. Estimates now expect it to fill in 7 – 9 days, instead of just a few.
Flooding is still expected as above average snowpacks continue to melt off in high heat forcing Rio Tinto to increase outflow at the Skins Lake Spillway. The company has declined requests to being overfilling the reservoir saying it’s too early in the season; by comparison overfilling in 2007 didn’t begin until June 27th.
Rio Tinto says the Nechako should rise to a minimum of 650 m3/s by Saturday with 700 also being a strong possibility. In a release yesterday company pegged the likelihood of 800 and 900 m3/s flows at 5 and 2% respectively.
The Nechako currently flowing at about 590 m3/s past Vanderhoof.
The company acknowledged the “frustrating but unavoidable” volatility of the river forecasts, saying they are at the mercy of the weather, which is hard enough to predict in the first place.
Rio Tinto is holding a public meeting this evening at 7pm at the Friendship Centre on the river forecast.
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