Sandbags are in place along the roadside near Borland Creek at Williams Lake Indian Band’s Sugarcane community, just in case the water level of the creek continues to rise.
As temperatures began to increase Tuesday, the creek began swelling to levels that are higher than they have been in a long time, WLIB lands co-ordinator Winona Gordon said Wednesday as she took her turn to monitor the area.
“We put the sandbags in yesterday and we are monitoring it 24/7.”
Gordon said elders in the community have said they recall that in the 1980s the creek came within five feet of the home that is closest to the bridge.
“Yesterday FLNRO [Ministry of Forests] was assessing the dams that are further up the creek from us to make sure they are OK,” Gordon said. “If one of those were to give way we would get a big rush of water down here. We are concerned about the bridge washing out.”
Staff from WLIB were going out again Thursday to assess the creek above the bridge.
The Cariboo Regional District put out a press release Tuesday encouraging residents to be prepared for potential flooding.
Read More:CRD encourages residents to prepare for spring melt
CRD chief administrative officer John MacLean is also the CRD’s emergency operation centre director and told the Tribune Wednesday afternoon that the CRD has brought in supplies, such as sandbags, in case any homes are threatened by the spring melt.
“We are not aware of a lot of structures at risk, but in the rural areas we anticipate that we might see some road washouts so we are encouraging people to fill their prescriptions and have whatever they need and be ready in case they get cut off for a few days,” MacLean said.
Last week the CRD was notified there was an earthen dam at Minton Lake up by the Cariboo Fire Centre that was getting close to capacity. Minton Creek flows down through Wildwood to Highway 97 and eventually down to the Fraser River.
“We did some analysis and monitored it in case something happened,” MacLean said, noting everything turned out OK.
“There are 500 dams in the Cariboo Chilcotin, a lot of them have a lot of water behind them so we are continuing to monitor them.”
The B.C. River Forecast Centre reports that disturbances such a fire affect the hydrologic response of streams, rivers and lakes relevant to potential flooding.
“Specifically, flows from snowmelt dominated watersheds impacted by fires tend to be greater and peak earlier as compared to undisturbed areas, even under normal weather conditions,” the forecast centre’s website notes.
Many of the regions affected by burns last summer have above normal packs this year, the forecast centre confirmed.
Williams Lake’s director of municipal services Gary Muraca said he was contacted by Emergency Management B.C. and asked if he had any sand bags because there was a culvert filling with water and onto Highway 20 at Tl’etinqox (Anaham) First Nation.
“We gave them 3,000 sandbags and will be getting another 6,000 to have on hand in case anyone needs them,” Muraca said.
The City does have sand, but because there is salt in it, Muraca said they don’t want to give it people to use near waterways.
Anyone experiencing flooding issues that affects a home or business is encouraged to call the Provincial Emergency Reporting Line at 1-800-663-3456.
For any other concerns, people can contact the CRD at 250-392-3351 or 1-800-665-1636.
