Despite flooding last spring, an engineer says there is no way the region could have anticipated the water woes hitting South Okanagan-Similkameen this spring.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen unveiled a new informational video to provincial officials and media Wednesday morning, including drone shots of area flooding.
The video, released on YouTube to the public Wednesday afternoon, includes expert analysis of some of the regional flooding issues. In the video, water resources engineer Don Dobson with Dobson Engineering said despite some of the flooding that hit the B.C. Interior last year, the region could not have predicted a repeat early on.
Related:
鈥淗indsight is a wonderful tool, but in reality we cannot forecast things like this in advance,鈥� Dobson said in the video. 鈥淲e had people last year in 2017 that were actually forecasting a drought in January and February, because snow packs were so low.鈥�
Though the region had a much deeper snowpack for months this year, Dobson said the region still could not have predicted the flooding, which so far has largely been from spring rains.
鈥淲e are starting to see a pattern of wetter winters and deeper snowpacks. Is this part of a changing climate? Could very well be. Three years does not necessarily mean a trend,鈥� Dobson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e suffering from the impacts, now, of something that鈥檚 been going on for more than just one year, but no we couldn鈥檛 have predicted it.鈥�
Related:
Dobson said local wildfires do impact the natural mitigation of flooding, due to diminished or depleted canopy in areas that catch some of the precipitation. Now, snow that might have evaporated into the atmosphere from the branches or leaves instead lands on the ground.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not drawing any water from the soil anymore. So, the soil is wetter, you鈥檝e got more water in the form of snow on the ground. The soils in the ground area already wet, and so we get higher stream flows,鈥� Dobson said.
In the South Okanagan-Similkameen, 16 homes have been evacuated in the Sportsmens Bowl Road area in Oliver, and 148 properties were evacuated in Tulameen late last week. That evacuation order was since reduced to just 15 properties Tuesday evening.
Related:
During a media conference Wednesday morning, B.C. parliamentary secretary for emergency preparedness Jennifer Rice said 16 communities across B.C. are under states of local emergency. Rice added that more than two million sandbags have been issued across the province.
鈥淓leven evacuation orders are in effect across the province, and furthermore, 11 communities are under an evacuation alert,鈥� Rice said, adding more than 200 people throughout B.C. are currently displaced from their homes. 鈥淔our reception centres have been opened to support those affected by flooding.鈥�
Related:
As well, 160 B.C. Wildfire Service members have been deployed to assist with flood mitigation, while the province engages in further flood mitigation programs.
鈥淲e know people are still recovering from last year鈥檚 unprecedented fire and flood season,鈥� Rice said. 鈥淣o doubt, this is a particularly trying time on people.鈥�
