Evacuation alert lifted for Barnston Island as flood threats ease across B.C.

VANCOUVER – As flood threats ease across B.C., an evacuation alert has been lifted for residents of a small island in the Lower Fraser River, about 40 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Metro Vancouver lifted the alert covering Barnston Island, about 24 hours after the River Forecast Centre dropped the High Streamflow Advisory for the Lower Fraser from Hope westward.

Officials say water levels in the river are now well below flood stage.

The only flood warning still posted in B.C. is for Shuswap Lake in the southern Interior, east of Kamloops, while flood watches cover the Shuswap and South Thompson rivers in the same area, and the Stuart River and Stuart Lake near Fort St. James in northeastern B.C.

The River Forecast Centre says cooler weather and less rain has drained the flood threat on most smaller rivers.

Crews continue to closely watch the South Thompson, West Kootenay and East Okanagan, including Mission Creek, near Kelowna, because rain is forecast in those regions over the next several days, swelling already surging rivers.