Flood concerns rise as Environment Canada warns of extended rain through B.C. Interior
KAMLOOPS – Heavy rain should be expected across a wide area of the BC Interior through Thursday evening. Environment Canada issued a Special Weather Statement Wednesday (July 1) evening, warning of the precipitation.
The statement says rain will result from a moist easterly flow associated with a deep low sitting over Alberta. The low will push precipitation across the Rocky Mountains into B.C. Wednesday night and through Thursday.
Computer models suggest the Thompson, Columbia, Cariboo-Chilcotin, and the Central Interior regions could see between 25 and 40 mm of rain by Thursday night. Higher rainfall amounts between 50 and 70 mm, are expected over mountain areas in the Cariboo, Williston, and McGregor regions. In addition, thunderstorms could drop between 15 and 25 mm over small areas in a short period of time.
Thursday’s rain is expected to fall in showers as opposed to the steady rains of Wednesday. However, there is concern around the impact of rising rivers across the B.C. Interior. Even before the steady day of rain over the Canada Day holiday, there were concerns for the North Thompson through the Blue River / Clearwater region, the South Thompson through the Shuswap, and the Quesnel river through the Cariboo Mountains.