Community under state of emergency as rain pounds B.C.’s coast

Boats are seen along the Alberni Inlet, looking towards Mount Underwood south of Port Alberni, B.C., on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Les Martson said he could see furniture floating in the basement of a friend’s home when he surveyed the site of flooding near Ocean Falls, B.C., along the province’s central coast.

The community is among the wettest in Canada with an average of 4,390 millimetres of rain per year, but Martson said Wednesday that the pounding the region has taken from a series of atmospheric rivers is the worst he can remember.

“You have to understand we are in the middle of a rainforest here.”

Parts of the central coast have received more than 120 millimetres of rain since the drenching began on Sunday, but it’s even wetter elsewhere, with western parts of Vancouver Island receiving 300 millimetres or more.

Video shot by Martson on Tuesday in the evacuation zone shows waterfalls cascading down the stairs of a row of homes and into the street.

The Central Coast Regional District issued a state of local emergency on Tuesday for the hamlet of Martin Valley, a few kilometres from Ocean Falls, due to the possible landslide and flood risk.

It issued an evacuation order for some homes and businesses in the community and an evacuation alert for dozens more, telling residents they need to prepare to leave quickly.

The district said in an update Wednesday that the landslide had been located but no impacts, including changes to the Bella Coola River or surrounding tributaries, were identified.

“At this time, there are no identified risks to public safety associated with this event,” the update said, but it encouraged residents to remain aware of their surroundings and report landslides or flooding that may pose safety concerns.

“The Bella Coola Valley is a geologically active region where landslides occur regularly, particularly during periods of heavy rainfall and snowmelt,” the district said. “While most landslides do not result in damage, localized impacts are possible depending on conditions.”

Steve Emery, who represents the area at the regional district, earlier said the flooding has damaged at least two of the approximately 40 homes in the area, as well as local infrastructure.

No one has been hurt.

However, Emery said most of the 21 residents in the evacuation area have stayed in their homes, while a few have gone to the evacuation centre in Ocean Falls.

Martson said he has helped two people leave the area, driving them by truck through the night to his business, the Old Bank Inn, where officials have set up the evacuation centre.

He said most of the homes are used seasonally after being built in the 1950s and 1960s, when Ocean Falls had much a larger population, while the remaining residents, many of them elderly, are skeptical of what comes next.

Emery said a helicopter from the Ministry of Forests has been hired to assess the stability of the slope near the area under evacuation order following an earlier slide in December.

He said it’s unclear if weather will permit the assessment.

He said he believes some residents have stayed behind, despite the order, because they have been there for many years.

“So, if you go to Ocean Falls, just about every place in Ocean Falls is in a slide zone, OK,” he said.

“It’s something that you kind of live with 365 days of the year, that a slide could come down at any time,” Emery said.

Martson said residents in the community, which can only be accessed by boat or by plane, are self-sufficient with plenty of food stored.

“We are a community that takes case of our own, and there’s nobody who is going to go hungry or thirsty.”

The BC River Forecast Centre downgraded a flood watch on Wednesday for the Central Coast region that includes Ocean Falls to a high streamflow advisory.

The centre issued a flood watch for the North Shore Mountains and Metro Vancouver tributaries as well as areas including Squamish, Pemberton and the Fraser Valley.

Sasquatch Mountain, a ski resort in the Fraser Valley, announced it was shutting down due to the atmospheric river weather system until at least Friday, “to ensure the safety of our guests and team.”

Figures released by Environment Canada show that Lennard Island along the western shore of Vancouver Island received 333 millimetres between Sunday and 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Kennedy Lake Highway Station outside of Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island, received 299 millimetres during the same period, while Estevan Point had reported 295 millimetres by 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Fewer rainfall warnings remain up Wednesday, although the drenching will continue for the west side of Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley and northern sections of Metro Vancouver through to Friday.

Environment Canada said the potential for flooding is increasing as the freezing level rises to 2,500 metres, melting the snowpack.

It said another 100 to 120 millimetres of rain could fall in those areas, with higher amounts possible near the mountains.

This report by Wolfgang Depner of The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.