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As a record-setting storm tapered off on the South Coast, the B.C. River Forecast Centre downgraded a number of flood watches in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island on Tuesday morning.
“So we’ve pushed that now to a high streamflow advisory,” said David Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre. “Just kind of recognition of at this point, not anticipating flows to get higher or get into that flood stage.”
Rainfall in the Fraser Valley over the weekend on Jan. 12 broke daily records according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and the weather pattern is now changing.
“We went from having heavy rain for almost three days to now, getting into a very dry stretch of weather for the next several days,” said Bobby Sekhon, ECCC meteorologist.
The atmospheric river that drenched B.C.’s South Coast from Jan. 10 to 12 dropped a total of 75 millimetres of rain on Abbotsford, 108 in Chilliwack, 103 in Mission and 121 in Agassiz, according to Weather Canada data.
“We might see a little bit of drizzle as we did this morning — we might see that again tomorrow,” said Sekhon.
Chilliwack River evacuation alerts rescinded
On Tuesday afternoon, the evacuation alert for those living in 205 properties near the Chilliwack River was rescinded.
A map from the Fraser Valley Regional District shows the area along the Chilliwack River where an evacuation alert was lifted on the afternoon of Jan. 13, 2025. (Fraser Valley Regional District)
Before the alert was struck down, Steph Murray who lives in the area said she wasn’t feeling overly concerned.
“I’ve seen it higher, it has come up quite a bit in the last couple days but it’s not at the point where I feel uncomfortable,” Murray said.
Despite the drier weather outlook, high streamflow advisories are still in place.
Further west in the river valley, dog walkers like Mike Messinger remarked on the rushing waters of the Chilliwack River — now at its peak, like other rivers on B.C.’s South Coast.
“It’s certainly higher than it usually is. And the water’s usually clear, it’s usually blue. This is, well, as you can see, it’s very brown,” Messinger said.
High waters rush through the Chilliwack River near Allison Pool on Jan. 13, 2025. (Kier Junos/CBC)
Vancouver Island received the most rainfall
The bulk of the heavy rain hit Vancouver Island, with the Kennedy Lake Forestry Station recording a total of 340 millimetres of rain.
ECCC said at least 20 weather stations in the region reported rain of more than 100 millimetres, including 168 millimetres in Ucluelet.
The heavy rain triggered several evacuation orders and alerts on Monday in areas including Nanaimo, Chemainus and Parksville, but they have been rescinded.
Nick Rivers, Arrowsmith Search and Rescue president, said the Englishman River near Parksville is 15 feet higher than usual. He said overflows damaged homes and vehicles on Monday.
“We saw an influx of water yesterday with the high tides and everything that did cause some flooding in the area,” Rivers said.
A man surveys logs washed up on the banks of the Englishman River near Parksville, B.C. on Jan. 13, 2025. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)
“We’ve had many homes filled full of water, some basements, yards, and then evacuations where we’ve had to go in and offer people assistance to get them out of the areas they were in. A lot of areas have been cut off, where there’s no road access.”
He added that relatively warmer temperatures are melting mountain snowpack, contributing to higher river levels.
With files from Maryse Zeidler, Baneet Braich and Akshay Kulkarni.
