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Several heat records broken over weekend as B.C. gripped by heat, fire, flood risk

Special weather statements covered much of British Columbia’s coastal and interior regions with temperatures soaring above 30 degrees in many communities on the weekend, but meteorologist Louis Kohanyi says they’re expected to peak today.

Several B.C. communities broke temperature records over the weekend, including Agassiz, which hit 31.6 C, breaking a record of 31.3 C set in 2018, while Fort Nelson set a new record of 28.1 C, breaking the old high of 25.6 C set in 1973.

In the Peace region, the regional district says there was “significant fire activity” on Saturday that necessitated evacuation orders and alerts for people near the Stoddart Creek wildfire as well as the Donnie Creek and Tommy Lakes wildfire, but an order was downgraded to an alert for those near the Boundary Lake blaze.

The province’s River Forecast Centre also issued several high streamflow advisories for the Skeena River, the Upper Columbia and East and West Kootenay Rivers, and others as high temperatures accelerated the spring snow melt.

People are being warned to stay away from fast moving waters and unstable banks.

B.C.’s interior has been particularly hard-hit by flooding and fires this spring, such as the Village of Cache Creek which suffered flooding earlier this month that displaced people from their homes and damaged highways.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2021