British Columbia is still on the alert with the arrival of another atmospheric river that will bring new precipitation over the next few hours.
• Read also: Floods in British Columbia: state of emergency and gasoline rationing maintained until mid-December
Environment Canada issued a warning on Tuesday for several parts of the province bordering the Pacific. Particularly northern and western parts of Vancouver Island are expected to receive up to 150mm of rain and high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Native to the Philippines, this atmospheric river is the third of its kind in a matter of weeks. This is a phenomenon characterized by an influx of humid air from the ocean causing intense precipitation.
“Torrential rains can cause water to accumulate on the roads. Flooding is possible in places in the lowlands. The rising rain-snow limit and melting snow could increase runoff, ”reads the federal agency’s publication.
The Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast, Central Coast and North Shore of the province are under the same warning.
“Gusts of up to 60 km / h are also expected in the province and they should intensify by tomorrow,” said Armel Castellan, meteorologist for Environment Canada. “The worst of the storm starts this afternoon and will continue tomorrow,” he added.
On Monday, the province extended gasoline rationing for the metro area and Vancouver Island until December 14. Many residences have been evacuated and several highways have been preemptively closed, including Highways 1 and 3 in the Fraser Canyon and in Hope.
Precipitation records sprayed
The first two atmospheric rivers to overhang British Columbia were enough to smash the fall precipitation records for several cities in the province, Environment Canada has confirmed.
“At [lundi] In the evening, seasonal records were broken in Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver and Abbotsford, and November is not yet over, ”said Castellan.
In the provincial capital, a total of 592 mm of rain has fallen on the city since September, beating an old mark of 1996. The new record is 100 years old, data has been collected in the province since 1896.
“The precipitation has been continuous since the beginning of autumn, but it is particularly important since November”, added the meteorologist.
In Abbotsford, arguably the city most affected by the flooding, 820mm of rain has fallen in the region since September, including 476mm since the start of November, Castellan said. The month of November also proved to be an excessively rainy month in the region, a record was also broken, with the old mark of 421.8 mm dating from 2006.