Rains ease but storm surge heads for southwest B.C., posing new flood risk

Detailed summary

Deluged residents of coastal British Columbia face a new flooding risk as rains ease, with warnings of a storm surge that could raise sea levels.

Deluged residents of coastal British Columbia face a new flooding risk as rains ease, with warnings of a storm surge that could raise sea levels.

Environment Canada says the surge could hit low-lying and exposed coastal areas of Metro Vancouver, southeast Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands.

It says elevated water levels surpassing tidal predictions will be driven by high winds and “enhanced wave activity,” and are expected to peak from 10 a.m. to noon.

The warning comes as residents north of Squamish, B.C., shelter in place after flooding triggered by a parade of storms this week.

Most of the rainfall warnings that had blanketed the region were lifted on Thursday, though two yellow warnings remain in place for western and inland Vancouver Island.

Those warnings say heavy rain is expected into late this afternoon, with the highest rainfall expected near Zeballos and Tahsis in northwest Vancouver Island.

The drenching has brought more than 300 millimetres of rain to parts of southwest B.C.

The village of Pemberton, about 150 kilometres north of Vancouver, is still under an evacuation alert, with parts of the community under evacuation order.

Evacuation orders have also been imposed by the Lil’wat First Nation and in Zeballos.

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