Quesnel’s Emergency Services Coordinator has one eye on the Quesnel River and the other on the Fraser these days.
Sylvain Gauthier says the water levels on both are on the rise.
There is a Flood Watch for the Quesnel River…
“The reason we’re in a Flood Watch for the Quesnel River is the amount of snow at the higher elevation is at a record high this year. So that is the reason why we’re having a careful look at the Quesnel River and anticipate what could happen.”
Gauthier says the loop under the railway bridge is closed right now, as it is pretty much every year, and he says the walking trail is also closed but he says it’s not where it was a few years ago when a vehicle got stuck, at least not yet.
As for the Fraser, Gauthier says it has went up 2 1/2 to three feet since Monday and is now only about A foot or a foot and a half away from their first marker…
“Once we hit the marker that’s when we really start paying attention to flooding issues, which our marker is at 271 meters above sea level, so once we hit the 271.5 meter that’s when we activate our EOC. (Emergency Operations Centre) And once we reach 272 then we know that we have potential flooding in certain areas, so once we hit that 271, that’s when we’re really gearing up to have a serious look at everything.”
Gauthier says they then start to worry about houses about a half metre after that…
“The trailers on North Fraser Drive would be the first ones at risk if we ever reach that 272.5 mark yet, so we’re still a long way from there, but that’s why we’re monitoring the situation on a daily basis to see how fast the Fraser is rising.”
Gauthier says the water levels in both rivers are expected to continue to go up this week…
“There is a good chance ya, depending on what the temperature is going to do, if we have a major rain event like we did last (Tuesday) night throughout the entire Cariboo and east of us that effects the Fraser, we could hit that marker.”
Environment Canada is only calling for high temperatures in the 17 degree range this week, although there is rain in the forecast.
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