Flash-flood fears lead B.C. city to declare local state of emergency

QUESNEL, B.C. – Fears about the possibility of a flash flood have led a city in British Columbia’s Cariboo region to declare a state of local emergency.

The City of Quesnel, located 114 kilometres south of Prince George, B.C., says specialists from Emergency Management BC have visited the site of a landslide on Baker Creek, near Pinnacles Provincial Park.

They say the slide may have taken place as early as June 28, creating a blockage and backing up water to a depth of three to 3.6 metres.

While the city remains confident the blockage will not fail, officials are asking people to stay away from the creek until further notice.

If the blockage was breached, the city says about 30 cubic metres of water per second would flow down the creek, dropping to about 25 cubic metres per second by the time it reached city limits.

The city says the average creek flow during flood season is about 40 cubic metres per second.