Police in Coquitlam, B.C., say first responders continue to search for a person whose home was washed away in a mudslide triggered by torrential rain across British Columbia’s South Coast this weekend.
Coquitlam RCMP say officers responded to a report of the slide along Quarry Road, on the east side of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, at about 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday.
They say the slide washed away one home and police were communicating with the family of the owner, who is unaccounted for.
The slide rendered the road impassable, cutting off several other residents who have confirmed with emergency personnel that they are sheltering in place.
From tactical rescues to mudslides, the atmospheric river making its way across southern B.C. is keeping search and rescue crews busy.
Coquitlam Fire Chief Scott Young told CBC News that the person’s house had been “completely knocked off the foundation and completely turned into debris.”
Rescuers paused their search Saturday night when it became too dark, but were seen at the Quarry Road site on Sunday. In addition to local teams, the provincial Heavy Urban Search and Rescue unit was also called in. It specializes in highly technical rescue operations in urban settings.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue was also called out on Saturday to rescue three separate hikers who got trapped near Pritchett Creek on Burke Mountain.
“I like to hike in the rain, but atmospheric river is probably not the time to be out, especially with the instability that all that rain does cause on the slopes,” Helena Michelis, a search manager with Coquitlam SAR, told CBC News.
B.C.’s River Forecast Centre, meanwhile, has downgraded flood warnings for the Coquitlam River and waterways on southwestern Vancouver Island.
Lower-level flood watches now cover the southern half of Vancouver Island and the rest of the province’s South Coast, including the Sunshine Coast, Metro Vancouver, the Sea to Sky corridor and the Lower Fraser River and its tributaries.
An update from the centre says additional rainfall was expected Sunday night as a “second and final pulse of moist air” moves from the coast to the Interior.
“Streamflow in most areas is not expected to reach the same levels as was experienced on Saturday, however ongoing high flows and potential overbank flood remains possible,” reads a statement from the centre.
Turbidity in Coquitlam water
The Metro Vancouver Regional District issued an advisory on Saturday warning that the extreme rainfall on the steep, mountainous terrain above the Coquitlam Reservoir had caused turbidity or cloudiness in the drinking water for residents in the eastern portion of Metro Vancouver.
“Turbidity occurs when storm runoff carries sediment such as clay and silt into our reservoirs,” said Brant Arnold-Smith, the division manager of Metro Vancouver Emergency Management.
Extreme rainfall on mountainous terrain above Coquitlam Reservoir has resulted in drinking water turbidity (cloudiness) in eastern portions of Metro Vancouver. Treatment and disinfection levels have increased as a safety precaution (1/2)
—@MetroVancouver
“The water treatment plant uses ozone, ultraviolet disinfection and chlorine for disinfection,” he added. “So we’ve been proactively disinfecting the water to ensure that … it’s safe for consumption by the residents.”
Arnold-Smith said that turbidity is likely to improve over the next few days, and the regional district would be conducting a full investigation into its cause.
Rainfall records shattered
The atmospheric river weather system that struck on B.C.’s election day sent daily rainfall records tumbling on Saturday.
Environment Canada figures show new daily rainfall records were set in Victoria, Squamish, Vancouver, West Vancouver, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope, Nakusp, and the Agassiz and Pitt Meadows areas.
In West Vancouver, 134.6 millimetres of rain fell, smashing the record of 34.8 millimetres set in 1970. Images posted to social media in the city on Saturday showed a surge of brown floodwater flowing down a sloping street.
Environment Canada said West Vancouver has seen a total of 177 millimetres of rain since Friday, with 150 millimetres falling in the Vancouver harbour area.
Coquitlam didn’t set a record, but saw even more than West Vancouver, at a staggering 233 millimetres of rain since Friday.
Rainfall warnings remain in effect for much of the South Coast, with Environment Canada saying Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley could see an additional 20 to 40 millimetres before the rain eases later Sunday.
A rainfall warning also covers parts of the West Kootenay and Columbia regions, including a stretch of the Trans Canada Highway, between Revelstoke and Golden.