File photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Ashley Legassic

SPRING FLOODING

Flood-prone communities in Southern Interior could see a break this spring

Apr 24, 2019 | 2:58 PM

CACHE CREEK, B.C. — After two devastating flood years in a row for the community of Cache Creek, there could be some reprieve this spring.

With river and stream levels either normal or slightly below normal, B.C. River Forecast Centre hydrologist Jonathan Boyd says areas that have been hit hard by spring flooding in years prior could get a break this year.

“Really, the expectation that flooding may happen falls down to forecast in heavy rain events, which at this point in time aren’t existing in the next seven days. At this point the flows are really just about where we would expect normally this year, and a lot different than the last two years for Kamloops and Cache Creek.”
_{Jonathan Boyd, B.C. River Forecast Centre}

Flooding across the region in the past can be blamed on a number of factors, the most prominent being snowpack levels. As of April 1, the level in the North Thompson was 89 per cent of normal, and the South Thompson was 75 per cent of normal.

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But Boyd adds that long periods of heavy rainfall could still tip the scales.

“The snowpack side of things isn’t an issue and because of that, now the temperature aspect isn’t going to be an issue because the snow is pretty well already gone,” Boyd says. “It really just comes down to really, really heavy rainfall events (in Cache Creek), which at the current moment — looking out about seven to 10 days in the weather forecast — doesn’t appear to exist. There might be some showers here or there but in order for that area to flood, it would have to be very significant storm systems and potentially two or three occurring in succession to cause flooding.”