Showers fill rivers in northern and central British Columbia, but southeast levels drop as heat arrives

The River Forecast Center says rising levels in some southeastern B.C. waterways may ease as heavy rain runoff abates, but downpours continue to swell rivers in the north and south. center of the province.

The center issued a flood watch on Wednesday evening for the Illecillewaet River and its tributaries around Revelstoke as up to 40 millimeters of rain inundated the area.

The showers also triggered flood warnings for the Blue and Quesnel river systems east of Williams Lake and a high flow advisory is now in place for the Upper Fraser and its tributaries from Prince George to Valemount.

Flood warnings, watches or high flow advisories cover the eastern half of British Columbia from the Yukon border to the United States border, as well as the Fraser River from Quesnel to the ocean.

As the unsettled weather moves away, the center predicts a rapid melting of the remaining snowpacks as the first heat wave of the year brings several days of temperatures in the low to mid-30s to all regions except the coastal regions of the province.

Forecasters say there is « uncertainty » about how much snowpack runoff will raise water levels over the next few days, but warn the public to stay away from fast-flowing rivers and potentially unstable banks.