200 Year Flood

Access to lower creek valley cut off

Unbeknownst to us since all the snow in our yard had melted before we headed off snowbirding in February, there was a high snowpack in the Cariboo this winter.  Then with a late spring and a sudden warming to 20 degrees, all hell broke loose.

Culverts were blowing out all through the area and rural properties were cut off.

The bridges blew out on our regular walking route in the Williams Lake Creek valley.  They closed the road so we walked to Scout Island instead.  They'd closed the Island to traffic to protect the causeway but you could still walk in.  The new bridge was almost cut off by flooding but we were able to jump across to dry land.  Later that day they closed the park to pedestrians.

So we hiked up to Fox Mountain to survey the damage from above.

Access to left side of bridge in centre of photo surrounded by water. Marsh is flooded.

The bridge by the beaver dam floated off its supports and volunteers had to wade out and put weights on to secure it.

Note flooded bridge in centre photo.

Another day we drove out to Mission Road for a bike ride.  We knew that the road was closed through the Sugar Cane Reserve due to a washout but were surprised to see that the culvert on Jones Creek had washed out and was replaced with a portable bridge.

We rode down to the reserve to check out the damage.

The Borland Creek bridge was damaged but intact but you can see in the distance that the road is washed out just beyond the bridge.  This is the watershed that that was burnt out in our big fire of 2017.

Leo snuck down to the lower creek valley and took some photos of the flooding near the sewage lagoons.

The creek has washed out the road and covers most of the valley.

They were almost washed out but the city protected them before they broke.  Meanwhile a sewage pipe with partially treated sewage is still leaking and waiting for water levels to drop to be repaired.