ACN9: Flooding, COVID and BC's State of Emergency

The COVID number update for today May 29th is: Henry announced 11 new cases yesterday, bringing the province's total to 2,573. There are 228 active cases throughout the province. Thirty-five people are in hospital, five of them in acute care. However, Henry warned "we still need to be cautious," especially when it comes to large groups of people. On Saturday, she announced an order restricting overnight camps for children and youth across the province during the summer. The next health update will be Monday.

The ongoing provincial state of emergency is now the longest in British Columbia’s history. B.C. Premier John Horgan extended the emergency an additional two weeks on Wednesday in order to provide emergency powers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. As we turn the dial up and increase our social and economic activity, it’s important to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the objectives that we as a province, collectively embarked upon some two months ago,” Horgan said. The premier told reporters on Wednesday there is “no likely end in sight” to the pandemic, even though the province is making significant progress. This comes as the province continues to assess the easing of further restrictions. “We don’t want to give up the ground we have made collectively and as individuals,” Horgan said.

Horgan also announced the B.C. legislature will be returning on June 22. MLAs will work both from the B.C. legislature in Victoria and virtually from their home communities. Elected officials must pass a provincial budget and debate budget estimates for each ministry. There are also expected to be Question Periods where Horgan says he’d understand if “a partisan rock or two are thrown in the weeks ahead.”

An update from Cache Creek in regards to flooding: Water levels in the river are expected to gradually rise during the next 24 hours as a result of last night’s rainfall, but we don’t expect them to be as high as last week’s levels. The town received much less rain – only 23mm - than was predicted going into the weekend, and the river is not expected to overflow its banks. However the level will be high and fast until mid-week, when we hope to see it begin to lower. The Village is still on a State of Local Emergency, and the properties along the river remain on Evacuation Alert. This lengthy flood season has left the river banks and nearby ground saturated and dangerous. Precipitation for May could be at a record high in Cache Creek, with almost 63mm of rain falling this month. We have been warning everyone to stay a minimum of 10 feet away from the river banks. The banks are already eroded and undercut in many places, and a little extra weight could be all that is needed to make them fall away into the river. Environment Canada is predicting dry weather for Monday, giving water levels a chance to level off. RCMP members are keeping watch over riverside properties overnight, while Village Public Works staff continue to monitor water levels, bank erosion, and debris in the river. Here’s hoping for a nice, uneventful day in Cache Creek tomorrow.