Massive flooding has cut Dawson Creek in two, with bridges washed out and about 60 homes evacuated.
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 is 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.
The region has received upwards of 130 mm of rain over the past two days, prompting the District of Chetywnd to declare a local state of emergency.
Highway 97 remains closed at the Pine Pass. Highways 29 and 52 are also under water, cutting off Tumbler Ridge.
CN Rail has confirmed the rail link between PG and Dawson is washed out.
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.
The weather system behind the the rain should continue to taper off and fade away overnight Thursday.
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Safe to say avoid 15th street as well in #ydq pic.twitter.com/qicqQUgjHk
— Derrick Lightfoot (@cjdcDLightfoot) June 16, 2016
@daybreaknorth #ydq 8th Street flooding pic.twitter.com/0BYt2rKcn7
— Craig Hartel (@NuclearMoose) June 16, 2016
Again, the main drag through Dawson Creek is a waterfall right now. pic.twitter.com/Kdw9n014wi
— Jonny Wakefield (@jonnywakefield) June 16, 2016
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