Update 10 a.m. Dec. 8.
From Tseshaht Chief Councillor Hugh Braker: We have just finished a 10 conference call with all agencies. The flood danger has passed. The Somass will be downgraded to a high stream advisory. Tseshaht Emerg. Management office is standing down.
Last night's storm went north. The rain here was 1/2 of predicted rain. The Ash River has fallen significantly. The Sproat River has stabalized and even fallen a bit.
All flood warnings for Tseshaht are lifted.
Original story:
The Somass River has broken its banks for the second time in as many years, but this year Tseshaht people got a head start on sandbagging low-lying properties. The nation has declared a state of emergency which empowers Tseshaht to take reasonable measures to protect lives and property, including closing roads and issuing evacuation orders.
Chief Hugh Braker says the river is over its banks after a weekend of heavy rain.
“It is in people’s yards now, but not in the houses,” he said, speaking of the flood waters.
In December 2014, roads and family homes along the river bank flooded after a similar heavy period of rainfall. Dozens of people from all over volunteered in the sandbagging effort.
This year, Braker says his nation is preparing for a series of storms that are forecasted to hit Port Alberni throughout the week.
“We started sandbagging at noon yesterday, but had to stop because a windstorm blew through and some trees fell; one almost hit the people that were sandbagging,” he said.
Sandbagging resumed on Monday morning and stopped at noon, then continued at about 4:30 p.m. when more sand was brought in.
More rain is expected to fall on the Alberni Valley overnight; and the series of rains storms has a cumulative effect.
“With one storm after another, the river never really has a chance to go back within its banks; it just doesn’t have time to recede,” he added.
Braker took part in a teleconference with Emergency Management BC today, Dec. 7. In a facebook post on AV Chatterbox, Braker wrote, “projections for the rest of this week are not good. The expectation is that 80mm or more of rain will fall tonight and tomorrow. We will get an 8 hour break and then another storm comes in. Another short break and then a third storm on Thursday. The river forecast centre is projecting a flood similar to last year and possibly higher.”
He said Hector Road and Pacific Rim Highway are expected to flood starting tomorrow afternoon. Residents will be detoured around the back of the garbage dump and on to Mission (Tsuma-as Drive) Road, if the highway is closed due to flooding.
The State of Emergency Declaration remains in effect until Friday, Dec. 11.
