B.C. landslide: Emergency alerts issued as water flows make areas ‘unstable’
Water has begun moving through the dam formed on the Chilcotin River by a giant landslide, but the warning from officials is a stern one.
“I cannot stress enough how extremely unsafe and unstable the valley is right now,” B.C.’s Minister of Emergency Management, Bowinn Ma, said at a press conference on Monday.
“There is a risk of further landslides both upstream and further downstream of the dam.”
The massive landslide last week at Farwell Canyon located about 22 kilometres south of Williams Lake dammed the Chilcotin River and created a lake about 11 kilometres long behind the slide.
Ma said there have now been five emergency alerts broadcast to people in the area since Wednesday and more will be issued as needed.
She added that people along the Chilcotin River and the Fraser River should stay in contact with their local governments and First Nations.
“We need people to stay off of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers and away from the riverbanks,” Ma said.
“It is dangerous to be by those rivers right now.”
Videos taken on Monday morning at the site of the dam show water flowing over the top of the site.
Emergency alerts have been issued to cellphones, radio and television to advise people in the area on or along the riverbanks of the Chilcotin River from Hanceville to the Fraser River, and the Fraser River from the Chilcotin River to the Gang Ranch Road bridge, to evacuate immediately due to flooding and debris flow.
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Emergency Alert has been issued by the Province of BC for the following areas: anywhere on the Fraser River & its banks from the confluence of Churn Creek and Fraser River to Little Leon Creek, 25km south of Big Bar Ferry. People in the area
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