Much of British Columbia鈥檚 Interior continued to be under the threat of flooding triggered by rain and warm weather Sunday, but water levels appeared to be receding at one of the hardest hit communities.
Even so, Cache Creek, a village about 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, remained under a state of local emergency, which was expanded to May 13 at midnight.
Village officials said 21 properties remained on evacuation order, while 12 others were still on alert. Crews brought in sandbags, cleared asphalt and put in a berm in a key location along the creek near Quartz Road to prevent further flooding.
Rising creek waters earlier in the week inundated parts of the village, flowing through its firehall, flooding several businesses and temporarily closing both Highway 1 and Highway 97.
鈥淭he water is staying in the channel now,鈥� said Cache Creek Mayor John Ranta. 鈥淎nd it doesn鈥檛 seem to be flowing around or through the firehall the way it was the last few days.鈥�
MLA Jackie Tegart, whose Fraser-Nicola constituency includes Cache Creek, met with town residents Saturday.
She said people are hopeful the worst of the flood threat is over.
鈥淧eople are tired,鈥� said Tegart. 鈥淗oly cow, are they tired.鈥�
In the meantime, about half of B.C. remained under flood watch, warning or advisory on Sunday.
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, 530 kilometres east of Vancouver, became the most active flood zone in the province on Saturday, with officials ordering the evacuation of 40 properties in and around Grand Forks.
On Sunday, the district rescinded the evacuation orders for 34 of those properties within Grand Forks city limits, but also added one more rural property near the city to the evacuation orders list.
鈥淲eather conditions locally and in the snowpack areas could cause these forecasts to vary through the rest of the weekend,鈥� the City of Grand Forks鈥� Facebook page update said. 鈥淩esidents are reminded to stay away from areas under evacuation orders and alerts and to remain well clear of fast-moving water.鈥�
A flood warning also continued to be in place for Whiteman Creek in the Okanagans, where the Okanagan Indian Band said it will continue to monitor the situation while removing silt and debris to minimize the damage from rising water.
In Cache Creek, Ranta said while the village is still in the response phase of the emergency, there will also be a long cleanup process due to the flooding this past week.
鈥淭here鈥檚, you know, six or eight inches of silt and rocks and gravel and whatnot around the firehall,鈥� Ranta said. 鈥淎nd other businesses have work to do. They鈥檝e got a fair bit of damage as a result of the flooding, and I think we鈥檒l be months in the recovery phase.鈥�
Cache Creek is also remaining vigilant to new flooding that may arise, Ranta said.
Tegart said people in the area have told her they want the provincial government to engage in 鈥渂ig picture planning鈥� to try to limit the annual flood threat.
鈥淓very year, people watch with trepidation as the freshet starts,鈥� Tegart said. 鈥淲e know where the water comes up. Why aren鈥檛 we doing the work before it happens?鈥�
鈥� Chuck Chiang The Canadian Press, with files from Dirk Meissner
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