Heavy rains in several northeastern British Columbia communities have washed out roads, prompted flood watches, forced some evacuations and led to one declaration of local emergency.
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Environment Canada says the rain began Wednesday morning and 79 millimetres had drenched the town by noon, with another 20 to 40 millimetres expected by Thursday night.
A local state of emergency has been declared in the Chetwynd area due to heavy flooding.
Particularly hard hit is Dawson Creek and surrounding communities.
“We didn’t need special powers yesterday in order to maneuver things”.
CN Rail has confirmed its mainline between Fort St. John and Prince George is out of service as a result of flooding.
Officials in Chetwynd say the train tracks through the town have suffered “extensive damage”.
Earlier today, Mayor Dale Bumstead told CKNW that 8th street, the main artery through town, has re-opened. The Chetwynd and District Recreation Centre is serving as a staging area for rural residents who need assistance.
Dozens of homes were evacuated ahead of the water and sewage leaks caused by the rain.
Fiftieth Street is closed due to a washout that cut off the town’s only post office and medical clinic from the town.
Highway 97 is still closed indefinitely between Chetwynd and Mackenzie, causing a day-long detour for anyone in B.C. wanting to access the Peace River region by road.
“Dawson Creek has turned into a waterfall”, the man in the video says.
Bumstead said they don’t believe any of the 60 homes evacuated yesterday have been destroyed, but the biggest challenge going forward will be repairing the many roads that were damaged or destroyed.
Beyond saying some resource roads had been washed out, the oil and gas commission provided few details on how wells, compression facilities and drilling sites had been impacted.
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The extent of the damage has yet to be assessed.
