Rising temperatures and melting snow increase flood fears in Okanagan

Malcolm Uttley places sandbags along a small canal between Kalamalka Lake and Wood Lake at the Tween Lake Resort in Oyama B.C. just north of the City of Kelowna on Friday, May 12, 2017. (Jeff Bassett / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

KELOWNA, B.C. - Rising temperatures are once again stoking flooding fears in the British Columbia's Okanagan region, as lakes, creeks and rivers rise to record levels.

Environment Canada has issued an alert for several areas throughout the Interior, including Nicola, the Okanagan Valley, Similkameen and South Thompson, saying unseasonably warm weather is accelerating snow melt.

The River Forecast Centre has also issued a number of high stream flow advisories for the area, saying temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s are expected to melt snow and cause river levels to rise through Wednesday.

The Central Okanagan Regional District says the water level in Okanagan Lake sat at 342.83 metres on Saturday, just four centimetres off of where it was during major flooding in the 1990s.

Flooding throughout the region has forced hundreds of people from their homes in recent weeks, including a family of three that the regional district says was evacuated Saturday when a small landslide came down near Killiney Beach.

No one was injured and a geotechnical assessment of the area was scheduled to be conducted on Sunday.

The regional district is urging all residents to protect their properties and stay off of Okanagan Lake.