Residents are urged to continue avoiding slide and potential flood zones due to the persistent threat of slope failures and water sweeping debris away.
The British Columbia government is meticulously monitoring river flows as a substantial surge of debris and sediment-laden water is predicted to travel down to the Fraser River. This follows a significant landslide that dammed the Chilcotin River last week. An image from August 2, 2024, reveals the clogged area of the Chilcotin River.
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma expressed gratitude that the threat of a flood disaster along the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers appears to have been mitigated when a large lake drained over the landslide. High water levels, similar to spring runoff conditions, are being observed downstream, posing dangers with strong currents that carry trees and other debris, carving away substantial sections of land.
“The risk of a worst-case scenario has drastically decreased, but we are not out of the woods yet,” Ma stated at a press conference on Tuesday. “I am extremely grateful the worst-case scenario did not come to be.”
The landslide occurred last week at Farwell Canyon, approximately 22 kilometers south of Williams Lake, creating an 11-kilometer-long lake behind the slide. Water began flowing over and through the debris site on Monday, forming a 15-meter channel through the dam, which continued to widen as water flows increased.
The minister said the water was expected to pass the Fraser Canyon communities of Lytton and Boston Bar by Tuesday evening, reaching Hope, about 150 kilometers east of Vancouver, by early Wednesday.
“We still have a few hours left for the water to drain from behind the dam and then we need to assess how the landscape fared following that event,” Ma noted. She advised people to avoid slide and flood areas due to remaining risks of slopes giving way and the potent water flow.
Indigenous leader Joe Alphonse, whose nation relies on river salmon, expressed relief that the dam created by the landslide broke. “We hope and pray that it’s not going to cause too much damage to property and people downstream from us,” he said.
At least one heritage cabin was lost when the Chilcotin River’s waters began flowing over the landslide on Monday, according to Alphonse, the Tsilhqot’in National Government tribal chair.
“You can’t manipulate Mother Nature,” he emphasized. “We need to continue to monitor the river. There’s a lot of work that needs to happen here.”
Alphonse raised concerns that the slide and subsequent water damage could impact crucial salmon runs headed for upstream spawning areas on the Chilcotin River and at Chilko Lake. He noted that the vital sockeye salmon run, currently advancing up the Fraser River, is expected to arrive at the Chilcotin River this weekend. While some Chinook salmon have already moved past the slide area, others remain downstream.
“We need wild stock,” Alphonse stressed. “We have always eaten wild salmon, wild moose, and wild deer. We are dependent on wild stock salmon. When you live at the poverty line, you can’t afford to buy food from the health food store.”
He called upon the Fisheries Department to implement immediate sport and commercial fishing restrictions to protect Chilcotin River and Chilko Lake salmon. The Tsilhqot’in National Government urged all government levels, downstream First Nations, the Pacific Salmon Commission, and other nations, including Alaskan fisheries, to take all possible precautions to conserve Tsilhqot’in-bound salmon and to halt fisheries impacting these stocks until the landslide’s impact is fully understood.
“We don’t want to hear excuses for the Chilko Lake run. We want leadership and solutions,” Alphonse demanded during a press conference.
In response, the Fisheries Department stated that based on historical timing, most adult Chinook salmon returning to the Chilcotin River this season likely passed the slide site before last week’s landslide. It added that the majority of adult sockeye salmon are expected to reach the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers’ confluence in the third week of August, with coho following in early fall.
Alphonse criticized the government’s insufficient collaboration with the Tsilhqot’in on monitoring the landslide, accusing them of fearmongering. “We don’t need them in our territory as far as I’m concerned. The next go around we’ll tell them to stay out.”
Minister Ma defended the province’s strategy, stating, “Our approach involved hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. What we did is what British Columbians would have expected us to do. We mobilized the resources needed to thoroughly understand the landslide situation, modeled out scenarios, and prepared for outcomes ranging from worst-case to best-case scenarios.”
