B.C. deluge brings flooding, water ban

More heavy rain and snow continue to fall across much of B.C. Friday, causing flooding on Vancouver Island, contaminating water supplies in one Okanagan town and raising the risk of avalanches in many mountain areas.

Up to 200 millimetres of rainhas already fallen on Vancouver Island's west coast, while up to 150 millimetres of rain is forecast for Vancouver's North Shore, Howe Sound and the Fraser Valley.

The average rainfall amount for January in those areas is usually about 140 millimetres and many area rivers are already swollen by several days of heavy rain. High tides have also been backing up rivers.

The B.C. River Forecast Centre issued a flood watch for a number of Vancouver Island rivers on Thursday.

On Friday morning, it upgraded the floodwatch for the Cowichanand Koksilah rivers to a flood warning. Thefloodwatchwasmaintainedforthe ChemainusRiver, but theflood watchfor allotherVancouverIslandrivers was ended.

Residents of Courtenay, on the east coast of the island, reported localized flooding Friday morning in the Puntledge Road area of downtown, while on the west coast in Port Alberni, the RCMP was reported flooding in the downtown area on 3rd and 4th Avenues.

Areas of Courtenay have already been flooded twice this winter, while further south on Vancouver Island, heavy rain also caused the evacuation of parts of the Cowichan and Duncan areas in November. The heavy rain is expected to ease on Friday afternoon, before resuming Sunday.

High avalanche risk

Meanwhile, in mountain areas the precipitation is falling as snow at higher elevations and avalanche experts are warning there is a high risk of slides across many backcountry areas.

The Canadian Avalanche Centre says the danger stretches from northeastern B.C. through the central part of the province to the southeastern corner. Backcountry users are urged to stay clear of the slopes or at least stick to gentle hills if they venture out this weekend.

The centre says weak layers in the snowpack mean there is still a significant risk of large, destructive avalanches that could be triggered by a person's weight.

Areas particularly at risk include the Northern Rockies, Eastern Monashees, Selkirk Mountains, Purcell Range and the Cariboo,with improvement not expected until at least next week.

But the heavy snowfall has been good news for some ski hills, such as Whistler-Blackcomb, which is reporting nearly half a metre of new snow at higher elevations.

Unfortunately for Olympic organizers, the precipitation has still been falling as rain at the Cypress Mountain Resort north of Vancouver that is scheduled to host several Olympic events.

Heavy rain contaminates Vernon-area water

The heavy rain has also led to the contamination of ground water supplies for the Okanagan town of Coldstream, near Vernon, that was hit by a torrential downpour Wednesday night.

The town discovered late Wednesday one of its wells was contaminated with E. coli, leaving its 3,500 residents scrambling for potable water. Authorities believe the deadly bacteria entered their water reserves through contaminated runoff from farms in the area.

Resident Brandie Wisbey said she and her husband and two young girls were sound asleep when municipal workers came knocking early Thursday morning to warn them not to use the water for anything, even if they boil it.

"They actually rang our doorbell and bashed on our door at about 2:30 a.m. and woke us up," said Wisbey.

"It was pretty adamant that 'Don't even turn on the tap. Don't touch the water. Don't put your hands in the water. You may flush the toilet but that is it,' " she said she was told.

Wisbey said the water ban didn't really hit her until suppertime, when she wanted to clean up her two girls.

'What do we do now?'

"My girls just had supper and they were covered in pizza sauce. And you normally just dump them in the bathtub and it was confusion what do we do now? Baby wipes are coming in handy at this moment," she said.

The town has set up showers and bottled water stations for those who need them, but warns it could be Monday before residents can safely use their tap water.

Emergency management co-ordinator Brent Watson said they're also distributing bottled water at the local fire departments.

"We recognize that residents have a very serious need for water. We just want to thank residents up front in understanding while we do have water, it is not an unlimited supply and we ask residents conserve as much as possible," said Watson.