Bridge washouts, evacuations in BC’s Peace Region

Torrential rains and flooding continue to batter the BC Peace Region.

At least one bridge has already washed out in Dawson Creek where 60 homes have been evacuated.

“We are in a very serious situation this morning in our city.”Dawson Creek Mayor Dale Bumstead wrote on Facebook “We will be making the decision later this morning about consideration for declaring a state of emergency.”

The city has been cut in half by flooding, with no power or transit on the south side. Schools and closed across the city.

BC Hydro has issued a statement, saying they lost two distribution feeders in Dawson Creek at 7 a.m. causing outages for 3,330 customers. Flooding is expected to have damaged several structures, including at least six distribution poles and delaying efforts to repair them. At this time, BC Hydro has not been able to access some areas with damaged equipment because many roads in the area are closed or impassible. Low clouds are also hindering efforts to use helicopters to assess the damage from the air.

Chetwynd declared a local state of emergency yesterday evening. Environment Canada says Chetwynd has received 130mm of rain over the past two days.

The BC River Forecast Centre has upgraded streams near the Pine Pass, Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge, Dawson Creek, and Fort St John to ‘Flood Warnings’

Overnight the Pine River rose and peaked at 145cm, a 20 year high. The Moberly River has already risen 40cm and will continue to rise until Friday morning at 10 year highs. The Kiskatinaw River is close to a 50 year high.

A rainfall warning remains in effect, with the system expected to fade this evening.

Highway 97 remains closed at the Pine Pass. Highways 29 and 52 are also under water.

@daybreaknorth #ydq 8th Street flooding pic.twitter.com/0BYt2rKcn7

— Craig Hartel (@NuclearMoose) June 16, 2016

Safe to say avoid 15th street as well in #ydq pic.twitter.com/qicqQUgjHk

— Derrick Lightfoot (@cjdcDLightfoot) June 16, 2016