While parts of the regional district and province prepare for floods as the snow pack melts, officials with the River Forecast Centre say Castlegar should escape unscathed.
"At this stage, the Columbia River has lower snow pack levels … the snow peters out,” said Dave Campbell.
This isn’t the case for other rivers in the region, as the centre has issued a high streamflow advisory for the Salmo River and a flood watch notice for the Granby River near Grand Forks.
As of May 1, snow pack was 142 per cent of normal through the Kootenays, affecting the Moyie and Salmo Rivers. With additional rain in the forecast, the centre was warning the Granby River may overflow, but officials said they didn’t know when that might happen.
Last week, the Regional District of the Central Kootenay (RDCK) issued a release urging residents to become better informed and prepared in case of flooding, including to know the risks specific to your community, develop a family emergency plan and practise it and prepare an emergency kit for home and car.
“Property owners are responsible for protecting their land and property,” the release stated. “To assist those property owners in potential flood areas, designated fire stations throughout the Regional District have sandbags only available for emergency use.”
The release also reminds the public that safety is more important than belongings.
"April had been a particularly cool month and what we've seen is increased snowpacks," Campbell said. “Starting early last week we began to get the onset of melt.”
The areas that are being monitored the closest are Prince George, Quesnel, Salmon Arm and the Kettle/Boundary areas.
Campbell said it will still be some time before the flows accumulate in the province’s larger rivers, like the Thompson and Fraser Rivers.
If flooding does occur, securing extra sandbags may be a challenge, said Christopher Duffy of Emergency Management BC.
“There are some challenges with respects to bolstering provincial stocks,” he said. The issue is most supplies in North America are going to Manitoba and Louisiana right now.
"We would encourage people to take precautions as the river levels rise,” he said. “It’s important to remember that local authorities have stockpiles as well.”
The RDCK urges everyone to be prepared to manage on their own for at least 72 hours.
For more information on personal and family preparedness including details on proper sandbagging techniques, visit the Provincial Emergency Program web site www.pep.bc.ca.
For information on river levels visit bcrfc.env.gov.bc.ca/warnings.
For RDCK Public Notices please go to www.rdck.bc.ca/publicinfo/notices.html.
To report a flooding emergency call 1-800-663-3456.