With all of the snow we’ve had in the last couple of months, is there a fear of flooding later this year ?
We asked Sylvain Gauthier, Quesnel’s Emergency Services Coordinator…
“It’s too early to say, a lot can happen between now and then. Next week we’re going to get into the 8,9,10 degrees so that is going to help with the melt, which is probably going to cause some local flooding downtown because all the manholes are still plugged with snow, but other than that we”ll just have to wait until the beginning of April and see what the percentage is for the snowpack and then we’ll go from there.”
Gauthier says the snowpack in the Upper Fraser West, which is just west of Prince George, is at 135 percent right now however.
And he says that could still go up with snow at higher elevations which could be a problem if we get hot weather in late May and early June.
The numbers are a bit lower for snowpacks in the other areas…
“The Upper Fraser East is just a little bit above normal at 108 percent, the Nechako is 95 percent of normal and the middle Fraser, which we only have to worry about a little, certain parts, that one we’re only at about 105 to 108 percent of normal.”
Gauthier says the warm weather we’re expecting this weekend and into next week could actually help, as it will start to melt some of the snow at lower elevations.
He says Baker Creek normally peaks in the beginning of May while the Fraser usually hits it’s highest point in early June.