The West Coast is continuing its tradition of harsh January weather, as residents get soaked by heavy rain and battered by high winds.
"We're fighting to live, we're fighting to keep the water out of our house," Coquitlam resident Jim Blanchard told CTV News.
Like other home owners in the Lower Mainland, his back yard resembled a small lake on Tuesday.
Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for the Fraser Valley, where clouds were expected to dump up to 30 mm of rain, bringing the total rainfall since Monday to 130 mm. But by Tuesday evening that warning had ended.
The Greater Vancouver Area was also hit with heavy rain and strong winds.
"Last January, a record was nearly broken when it rained for 28 days -- the record was 29," reported CTV's Todd Battis.
"But it rained for 28 days, stopped for half a day, and then rained for another 14. They call this the 'Wet Coast' for a reason. People are accustomed to it, but I think there is certainly a sense we're being a little beat up on, especially when you see sunshine across much of Canada."
Weather analysts say the heavy rain and warm temperatures are caused by the "Pineapple Express," the meteorological nickname for the subtropical jet stream that crosses the pacific from Hawaii.
There are concerns that continued rainfall could cause flooding in areas, while the warm temperatures may hurt business for some ski resorts.
"The North Shore mountains received a lot of snow early on, the ski resorts opened early and it was shaping up to be a great season," said Battis. "Now, because of the warm temperatures and the rain ... they're losing a lot of that snow."
On the other hand, Whistler enjoyed up to 25 cm of fresh snow overnight, making for good ski conditions.
A snowfall warning was put in effect Tuesday for much of southeast B.C. as the storm moved inland. Communities from West Columbia north to Yellowhead were expected to get as much as 20 cm of snow.
Meanwhile, an avalanche has blocked the Trans-Canada Highway from Golden to the Alberta boundary. The highway is also closed from Revelstoke to Golden because of the threat of avalanches.
Traffic was being re-routed from the Trans-Canada to Highway 93, and there is no estimate on when the main route will be reopened.
Southern B.C. ended 2006 with a series of brutal storms that caused severe damage. In Vancouver's famous Stanley Park, winds gusting up to 120 kilometres per hour knocked down about 3,000 trees.
Most of the park has since re-opened.
"They saw all those wacky and powerful storms in November and December. We thought that maybe with the change in year the situation would die down, but it certainly isn't," Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips told CTV Newsnet.
He added that there has "just been too much weather in the West Coast and not enough in the eastern part of the country."
With a report by CTV's Todd Battis in Vancouver
