Highways close as B.C. braces for more rain

Southern British Columbians braced for another severe storm Saturday, with a new set of evacuation alerts issued and officials in an already devastated agricultural community warning of another possible river overflow.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said Saturday the city has done everything it can with provincial and federal support to prepare, but the Nooksack River in Washington state presented an “unknown factor.” The river’s dikes in Whatcom County were damaged in recent flooding and it’s unknown exactly how much of Sunday’s anticipated spillover the saturated land could absorb, Braun said.

“The rain we can handle, I’m pretty confident of that. What we can’t handle is if the Nooksack overflows and starts emptying again into Sumas Prairie,” he said.

Weather warnings blanketed much of the province’s south Saturday, with rainfall expected to intensify Saturday night, ease Sunday afternoon and return again early next week.

By Saturday afternoon, local governments had issued evacuation alerts for low-lying areas in the Nicola Valley near Merritt and Spences Bridge, as well as the Pemberton Meadows area.

The Transportation Ministry proactively closed several highways between the Lower Mainland and Interior that were previously affected by major flooding. The highway segments had only been open to essential traffic as the province worked to restore damaged infrastructure and manage a gas shortage caused by the disaster.

The closed highways include Highway 3 between Hope and Princeton, Highway 1 between Hope and Popkum, Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon and Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet.

Environment Canada warned up to 120 millimetres of rain could fall on mountainous regions like Squamish by Sunday afternoon.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said the Nooksack River in Washington state presented an ‘unknown factor.’