File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Rainy Weather

Environment Canada says steady rain through Canada Day a danger for swollen rivers

Jun 30, 2020 | 3:57 PM

VICTORIA — Environment Canada says Canada Day rain is going to put a big strain on the already-bursting rivers in the Central Interior — and provincial officials say the rivers are poised for a historic flood.

Forecast Matt MacDonald says a tropical system originating in the Gulf of Mexico will dump rain on the region starting Tuesday night (June 30).

MacDonald says that could mean 15 up to as much as 40 millimetres of rain could fall before all is said and done.

“It’s not crazy heavy amounts of rain, but the main concern is, with the river already running high, this added rain is less than welcome,” MacDonald told CFJC Today. “It’s going to last about a-day-and-a-half here. Starting late tonight, all through the day on Canada Day Wednesday, and then start tapering off on Thursday.”

Meantime, the B.C. River Forecast Centre (RFC) says the spectre of a 1972-caliber flood is looming.

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“Our current modelling is indicating the potential for flows to reach up to flows that we experienced in 1972, particularly in the Upper Fraser basin and Prince George, as well as the Thompson River,” said RFC head Dave Campbell in a teleconference Tuesday afternoon.

“While this isn’t a certainty that we’re going to see these flows, certainly the presence of that scenario and a risk of that scenario is really what’s prompting a lot of this early warning and the media briefing.”

MacDonald notes rainy weather in June is not abnormal for Kamloops and the Central Interior, but this month has been rainier than most.

That has led to weeks of rivers at or near their peak flows.

“In coordination with the River Forecast Centre, they tell us that the South Thompson and the North Thompson as well as the Fraser are all cresting right now, the highest they have run all season,” noted MacDonald. “That is the main concern, given that they are already high, this added rainfall is less than welcome.”

Campbell says he is concerned about where this week’s rain will fall.

“A lot of that rain is… expected to be focused on the tributaries and headwaters of the Fraser River, particularly the Upper Fraser headwaters, Robson Valley, the Quesnel River in the Cariboo Mountains and the North and South Thompson Rivers,” said Campbell.

“The critical period for this is going to be the end of this week and the weekend for those tributaries, and then looking at the end of the weekend, Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday for the Lower Fraser River.”