Kelowna, BC residents monitoring the water level at Mission Creek after heavy rain – Okanagan | Globalnews.ca

many in kelownaa, bc, Mission Creek is keeping a close eye after heavy rain on Sunday and on Monday the BC River Forecast Center issued flood monitoring for the waterway.

So far July has been wet in the Okanagan. southern interior It has rained 10 to 20 mm since Sunday, due to which Flooding watch.

“It’s a combination of course Rain That happened yesterday and then it is likely to rain over the next few days,” said hydrologist with the BC River Forecast Center, Jonathan Boyd.

Mission Creek is the largest tributary that feeds Lake Okanagan. The recent rains are also affecting the water level of the lake.

“This rain event late yesterday pushed the lake up a centimeter again,” Boyd said.

“Again, even compared to a recent drop of a few centimeters. Chances are we’re probably getting closer to the summit of the lake for the season.

Despite the risk of flooding in some areas, unseasonal amounts of rainfall are good news for our forests, when the province is usually on deck for wildfire season.

“The BC Drought Technical Working Group met for the first time last week, and it was across the board. Everywhere was ranked zero to level 5,” Boyd said.

“This is the first time I can remember that there were no areas of drought concern for the province at this point in the year.”

A woman whose yard traces back to Mission Creek in Rutland says she isn’t worried yet, but is keeping a close eye on the situation.

“This year it has been much longer and longer than any other year that I have been here,” said Fatima Ackhurst.

Usually, Ackhurst says she enjoys a small sandy beach in her backyard, but she hasn’t been able to use it this year.

“Even in July of last year when we had 40-degree hot weather, we were actually sitting in the creek and had to build small pools because the water was too low,” Ackhurst explained.

“This year, it’s very high and consistently high, going up and down every time it rains.”

The public is being told to stay away from Mission Creek during flood monitoring, but there is some relief in the forecast.

“Looking ahead, in the long-range forecast, we are not expecting any significant amounts of moisture,” explained Global News meteorologist Peter Quinlan.

“We could see some scattered, sporadic splashes, but I don’t expect it to affect the water level much. So really the concern was the humidity that we had from Sunday to Monday in the day. ,

The River Forecast Center will continue to monitor the situation and update the advisory as weather conditions change.