Forecasters are warning of swollen creeks and rivers as heavy rain sweeps over southern British Columbia.
High streamflow advisories, which remained in effect Monday, have been posted by the River Forecast Centre for all of Vancouver Island, the south coast and the southern Interior. The advisories warned of a possible rapid rise in rivers that could pose a risk to public safety with localized flooding.
Environment Canada said a Pacific frontal system washed over Vancouver Island and the south coast over the weekend, bringing up to 90 millimetres of rain to Haida Gwaii and more than 80 millimetres to Saturna Island.
CHEK News reported there was some weekend flooding in low-lying areas on the Island but no damage was reported.
Residents in southeastern B.C., from the Boundary region through the West and East Kootenay regions, were warned to expect as much as 50 millimetres of rain before it eases on Tuesday.
The River Forecast Centre said the smaller, low-elevation creeks and rivers in those regions are the most at risk of flash flooding because of the remaining snowpack.
“These rain-on-snow events have a high amount of uncertainty based on rainfall totals, ripeness of the snowpack to melt and the fluctuation of the freezing level,” the centre said in its advisory.
Victoria escaped major rainfall with only one millimetre at the Gonzales weather station from April 6-9, CHEK said, but a number of daily records were exceeded in other Island centres.
Port Alberni had 44 mm to eclipse the old record of 11.2 mm, Comox had 24.4 mm to pass the previous mark of 24.4 mm and North Cowichan overtook the past mark of 4.8 mm with 12.7 mm.
Port Alberni ended up with more rain April 6-8 than the 69.2 mm it saw in all of March, CHEK said, with a four-day total of 114 mm.
The Victoria area is expected to see a few showers Tuesday morning, ending around noon.
Winds gusting to about 70 kilometres an hour around Juan de Fuca Strait are expected after that and could be accompanied by more showers, said Environment Canada meteorologist Louis Kohanyi.
— With a file from the Times Colonist
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