Expected rainfall ramps up flood fears

A flood warning for the Cottonwood River near Quesnel, B.C., was issued on May 15, 2011. (CTV)

QUESNEL, B.C. - A forecast calling for more rain has ramped up flood fears in some parts of British Columbia as one home teeters on the edge of a river near Quesnel.

Workers racing to reinforce the banks of the surging Cottonwood River were ordered to leave its banks on the weekend, but some were back on the job Monday in the region about 600 kilometres north of Vancouver.

Chris Duffy of Emergency Management B.C., said experts are now gauging river conditions and road infrastructure.

"We do have an equipment operator in the area," he said. "If it's safe to do so, we will try and remove the home that is imminently at risk of going into the river to prevent that environmental damage and degradation."

Duffy said two other homes are in jeopardy among the other eight to 10 homes that may be threatened.

"It would be a fairly large project to try and protect all of these homes," he said. "There just simply is not enough time and materials on hand to do that with any degree of a high probability of success. And we do have to factor worker safety. It is a very dynamic environment and we certainly don't want to kill anybody trying to save homes."

Up to 30 millimetres of rain are expected in the next two days, increasing the risk of flooding in the Quesnel and Prince George areas.

"In the Cottonwood, homes are imminently at threat and we have people evacuated from there," Duffy said.

"We would encourage people to take precautions around rivers as elevations rise and the speed of the flow rises and consider public safety at all times, making sure your children and pets are staying away from banks that could fall in and erode."

The province is trying to bolster its supply of sandbags while facing competition from other jurisdictions, Dufty said.

"There is a key supplier in British Columbia, here out of Burnaby, and then we would reach out probably to the United States but there's quite a bit of (competition) from the flooding events in Manitoba and Louisiana."

Dave Campbell, spokesman for the River Forecast Centre, said river levels are expected to rise in the next two days in the Prince George and Quesnel areas and extending into the Bulkley River.

He said cool weather in April increased snowpacks and delayed an onset in the spring melt, but a combination of warm and wet weather last week caused rivers to rise in some parts of the province.

Elsewhere across B.C., flood warnings are posted on Baker Creek and the Willow River near Quesnel and Prince George, as well as the West Kettle, Nicola and Bonaparte rivers in the Boundary and Southern Interior regions.

Flood watches are in effect for the Kettle and Granby rivers in the South Okanagan and the Salmon River, near Falkland, in the South Thompson.

Public Safety Minister Shirley Bond says crews are working around the clock to prepare sandbags and muster supplies that will be required when flooding occurs.