Prince Rupert not part of Skeena River flood watch

There is currently not a high streamflow advisory for Prince Rupert but there are alerts for other communities along the Skeena River, the City of Prince Rupert cautioned on its social media page, June 2.

Rising temperatures have resulted in increasing snowmelt and river run-off with rain anticipated throughout the weekend. As a result, the River Forecast Centre issued high streamflow advisories for Terrace, Hazelton and Kispiox as well as a flood watch in Smithers and Telkwa.

There is not currently a flood warning in place along Highway 16 so the Skeena Relay this weekend should not be affected, the City of Prince Rupert stated.

The City of Terrace closed Ferry Island and Fisherman’s Memorial Park on June 3 but said that the flood risk to the region continues to decrease.

As a precaution, they have set up a sandbagging machine where the public can bring bags to fill. The machine can fill about 600 bags per hour. There is also an alternative site equipped with bags and shovels where residents can manually fill their own bags.

In Smithers, the town issued an evacuation alert for some low-lying regions. They are also supplying the community with sand bags and sand in preparation.