The torrential downpour that swept across Vancouver Island and the rest of British Columbia’s central southern strip has been a momentous seasonal milestone. The vast majority of rainfall warnings have been lifted. However, the aftermath of the province’s maiden atmospheric river event of fall promises to linger in its wake for some time yet.
The B.C. River Forecast Centre has not been remiss in cautioning residents about potential perils. Necessary flood watches have been implemented across western Vancouver Island, inclusive of the Englishman River near Parksville. The eye-watering water levels predicted are far from standard, expected only once in a decade on some channels.
The rest of Vancouver Island shares part of this burden with elevated streamflow advisories. Possible localised flooding remains a threat in most of the inner south coast north of Vancouver and the Interior regions of the Upper Columbia, North and South Thompson.
Every storm, undeniably, brings a calm. Environment Canada discloses that the warm, subtropical rush of moisture that catalysed this startling atmospheric river on Tuesday and Wednesday has largely dissipated. However, scattered showers are slated to persist throughout the day.
The tempest in question deposited 233 millimetres of rain on the Kennedy Lake forestry station east of Ucluelet by Wednesday evening. It further registered a minimum of 172 millimetres at the Tofino airport, while parts of Metro Vancouver were soaked in up to 100 millimetres of rain.
These substantial rainfall accumulations signify the most intense deluges experienced by the south coast in almost a calendar year. A historical glance at Environment Canada records reveals that the previous extreme soaking took place during the atmospheric river in November 2021. That tumultuous occasion incited destructive flooding, road-rendering washouts and hazardous landslides, inflicting damage from Metro Vancouver to the southern Interior.
