An orange-level rainfall warning remains in effect for large swathes of Vancouver Island on Thursday, while some communities face flooding and road closures.
A rainfall warning is in effect for West and Inland Vancouver Island, where 150 to 250 millimetres of rain is forecast to fall Thursday morning, according to Environment Canada.
The rain is expected to ease throughout the day, followed by a “weaker weather system” starting again Thursday night and Friday.
“Localized flooding is likely. Some roads may become impassable,” warned Environment Canada Thursday morning. “Visibility will likely be suddenly reduced at times. Landslides may occur in vulnerable areas such as steep slopes, deforested areas or recent burn scars.”
Meanwhile, a yellow-level rainfall warning is in effect for East Vancouver Island, from Nanoose Bay to Fanny Bay.
Environment Canada is forecasting 50 to 100 millimetres of rain to fall in this region on Thursday morning, before the weather system weakens later in the day.
The weather office is also warning of water pooling in low-lying areas and potential drops in visibility and landslides for the East Vancouver Island region.
On Wednesday, the Environment Canada weather station at the Port Alberni Airport recorded 123 millimetres of rain.
Last week, Environment Canada meteorologist Steve Boily put the rainfall totals in perspective, saying typically Campbell River gets an average of 220 millimetres during the entire month of November, while Comox receives about 190 for the month.
Nearly one year ago today, Environment Canada introduced a new colour-coded weather alert system, with yellow alerts being the least severe, followed by orange and red alerts.
Yellow alerts are the most common and are issued when weather impacts are “likely moderate, localized, and/or short-term” – while orange alerts are issued when “significant” damage or disruptions are anticipated, with impacts expected to be “major, widespread, and/or may last a few days.”
●Active emergency alerts
Evacuation orders and alerts remain in effect for Zeballos after first being issued on Nov. 6 due to flooding and potential landslide risks.
The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) said it expected the emergency measures to remain in place until at least Friday.
Meanwhile, a road closure was issued in the Village of Sayward around the intersection of Sayward Road at Kelsey Way due to flooding on Wednesday. The SRD also issued a water conservation notice for Sayward after the village’s water treatment plant went offline due to sediment in the water coming from high flows in Newcastle Creek.
The Huu-ay-aht First Nation warned of road flooding along Bamfield Main Road on Wednesday, while people in the Port Alberni area were busy preparing sandbags due to flooding.
source: CHEK News photo: Christopher Jones
