Flood chat!

[Queen K]

Flood Chat! Flood us with flood news.

Every flood on the local, national and international news including the kitchen sink flood you had last week. Basement floods welcome.

Tell us all you know about floods, the Great Flood and any flood that affected you, your family, shirttail relative or some guy in a bar talking about it.

[GordonH]

Growing up in Shuswap area the worst flood year was the Spring of 1972, that was the year my parents visited friends in Revelstoke some time after New Years and snow was above the eves on the houses.

[Glacier]

It kinda flooded on the Coldwater River in November 2021!

coldewater.png

BTW, When do you think is the median date for when we hit the highest water flows for the year?

Answer: It's none of your damn business! okay, kidding. It depends where you live.

Median Dates for when a river hits it peak flow for the year:

Coldwater River: May 30th

Vernon Creek: May 29th

Okanagan River at Penticton: June 20th

BTW, Okanagan River can be at its peak every month of the year except November. Contrast that with the Coldwater River that SMASHED its all time in November 2021. We are far enough away from the Coast/Cascade mountains to not get those atmospheric river surges.

How about the Similkameen? Well, it can peak in the spring (typical), but never in the summer or early fall. But it can also get those big atmospheric rivers and peak in November. That has happened 3 times. The last time was in 2021. Not an all time record like it was on the Coldwater though.

May of 1972 was its big flood event. The median peak flow date is May 27th.

But the Tulameen, well that river surged also in 2021 with the AR. Median peak date is May 25th. 5 times the peak has been in November.

tulameen.png

Mission Creek in Kelowna has a median peak date of May 30th.

Bessette Creek in Lumby has a median peak of May 26th.

The Shuswap River has a peak date of June 8th near Lumby, June 10th out of Sugar Lake, and June 10th at Enderby.

The South Thompson River has a peak date of June 15th.

The Thompson south of Spences Bridge has a peak date of June 11th.

The Fraser River at Hope peaks on June 13th.

How about way up north? Well, the mighty Liard River flowing out of BC into the Northwest Territories also peaks on June 13th.

Some large southern rivers in BC actually peak into July and even August! This is because they're fed by glaciers.

For example, The Taseko River that flows into the Chilko River peaks July 3rd. The Chiko River flowing out of Chilko Lake and then into the Chilcotin and finally the Fraser peaks on July 16th.

But the water to the west of Chilko Lake is even crazier. The Homathko River draining the Chilcotin plateau into the Coast Mountains peaks on June 17th at Tatlakyoko Lake, but at its mouth into the Ocean at Bute Inlet it peaks on August 1st!

Same goes for the Klinaklini River into Knight inlet. That's because these rivers are draining the Coast Mountain Icefields that are up to 13,000 ft above sea level.

When you have a median date of August 1st, that means half the time the peak is later than August 1st. For the Homathko and Klinaklini Rivers the peak is in July or August half the time, but sometimes an AR pushes the rivers up in the Fall.

The Klinaklini has a massive AR in 2011 as seen in this graph.

klinaklini.png

So far, the river with the latest peak date is the Elaho River that flows into the Squamish. Peak date is September 20th. I haven't looked at other coastal rivers though, but I suspect many peak in Fall given that's their rainy season.

[Fancy]

The flood of 2017 isn’t beating the Parker Cove one now. What a mess.

[normaM]

My creek ( Bellevue) is much higher than same time last year, fast and roaring... can heard it a block away
Wonder if they will use an Aquadam again?

[BC Landlord]

The lake is still 63 cm bellow full pool, and Mission Creek crested yesterday. It appears, this year will go uneventful in the Okanagan.

[Fancy]

The lake is still 63 cm bellow full pool, and Mission Creek crested yesterday. It appears, this year will go uneventful in the Okanagan.

Unfortunately it didn’t go uneventful.

[BC Landlord]

The lake is still 63 cm bellow full pool, and Mission Creek crested yesterday. It appears, this year will go uneventful in the Okanagan.

Unfortunately it didn’t go uneventful.

I was referring to the lake.

[Fancy]

Gotcha. Hope this remains true. Really don’t relax until late June.

[BC Landlord]

Gotcha. Hope this remains true. Really don’t relax until late June.

Unless there is a deluge of biblical proportions just around the corner, as far as OK lake is concerned, it's over for this year. The only question remaining is, would it reach the full pool, or not. I think, probably not.

[Fancy]

Creeks still running but good thing the releases have been done.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton ... ticton-Dam

[Glacier]

The lake is still 63 cm bellow full pool, and Mission Creek crested yesterday. It appears, this year will go uneventful in the Okanagan.

It's all about timing of when they start releasing water. The lake is much higher than it would be if there was no dam at Penticton. Once that dam was built extreme flows out of Okanagan Lake went up quite a lot.

okriverstreamflow2b.png

[swamp1967]

MLA expresses concern about watershed protection and restoration....

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#425677

[swamp1967]

KLO Mission Creek Bridge

PXL_20230510_014117994.jpg

This is why we have problems around bridges. Gravel left to accumulate and not removed, which in turn traps debris. This could be a problem spot this weekend when high creek flows return.

[Glacier]

Water flows have almost certainly peaked for this year. At least for the non-regulated. Vernon Creek out of Kal Lake and Okanagan River have regulated flow so they will peak well into June.

okstreams.png