File photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

"Not more than we could handle"

Cache Creek avoids further flood evacuation alerts after rainy weekend

May 31, 2020 | 3:24 PM

CACHE CREEK — Village of Cache Creek officials say severe weather warnings did not live up to the expectation, and flooding potential did not worsen over the weekend.

The Village is still under a state of local emergency due to flooding danger, and the 175 properties that were put on evacuation alert on May 21 are still on alert.

Friday and Saturday (May 29, 30), special weather statements had warned of significant rainfall and thunderstorms for the region. While it wasn’t quite the severity that was forecast, Village Emergency Operation Centre spokesperson Wendy Coomber says the Cache Creek area did still experience heavy rain.

“So it’s looking pretty damp here. We got quite a bit of rain here overnight. About 23 mm, which is about one-third of what we’ve gotten for the entire month of May,” she explains, “So it was quite a bit for us, but not more than we could handle I think.”

Lack of rainfall in the days leading up to the weekend proved useful, as Coomber says the Bonaparte river did go down somewhat earlier in the week.

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“So it was emptying out normally into the Thompson, so we had a little bit of room to play when the rain did finally show up,” she says, “The river has come up today and we expect it to rise for the next couple of days. But we’re hoping nowhere near the levels that we had seen last week.”

At one point, the BC River Forecast Centre was predicting a once-in-200-year peak flow based on reports of an incoming storm front and extra precipitation. Coomber says it didn’t hit that point during the weekend, and no further evacuation alerts or orders had to be issued.

“Everything is still very saturated. The riverbank is still dangerous, so stay away because you don’t want to end up in that path of running water.”

Coomber says they’re hoping for a dry day on Monday for water levels to begin moving downwards.

“Hopefully by next week, knock-on-wood, we’ll finally be able to put this one to rest,” she says, “But no promises.”