Forecast rain no help as Southern Interior enters flood watch

With the high elevation freshet now underway, the B.C. River Forecast Centre is upgrading some of its flood alerts.

That includes Mission Creek in Kelowna and the Similkameen River in the Southern Interior plus West Kettle River and Granby in the Boundary region, all of which have been raised from a high streamflow advisory to a flood watch.

A flood watch has been continued for parts of the Central Interior including Bonaparte River, Baker Creek, Nicola River, Guichon Creek, Coldwater River and tributary rivers around Cache Creek, Merritt, Williams Lake and Quesnel.

Snowmelt rates rose over the weekend, the forecast centre says, which is contributing to high stream flows in many river systems in the B.C Interior.

In the Okanagan, that includes Oliver, Osoyoos, Summerland, Penticton, Kelowna and Vernon.

The forecast centre says temperatures in the next two days will continue to rise and rivers that rose over the weekend are expected to continue rising.

Current forecasts show the chance of 15 to 30 mm of rain this week throughout the southern portion of the province.

Highway 8 west of Merritt has been closed by flooding at 10 Mile Bridge and highway officials say the water continues to rise at that location.

EmergencyInfoBC, the online service that is active during provincial emergencies, says evacuation orders or alerts are in place in six regional districts and for one Merritt-area First Nation.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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