Evacuation order for Chilcotin River landslide area downgraded to alert

A landslide along the Chilcotin River near Williams Lake, B.C. is shown in this Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024 handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout, Chief Willie Sellars)

Residents can return home now that an evacuation order following a landslide that blocked a British Columbia river for days has been downgraded.

The Cariboo Regional District in B.C.'s central Interior issued an evacuation order on July 31 for 34 parcels of land along the Chilcotin River due to a landslide and declared a state of local emergency.

The evaluation order covered a stretch of the river about 30 kilometres long and spanning nearly 73 square kilometres.

The district says the evacuation order in the Chilcotin River landslide area has been downgraded to an evacuation alert.

But it's warning residents not to interfere with any monitoring activity as landslide and river assessment is still ongoing in the area.

The district is also asking people to be aware of additional slides or flooding.

B.C.’s minister of emergency management and climate readiness said in a press conference on Tuesday that they are still concerned about the impacts following the Chilcotin River landslide.

Bowinn Ma says the province is monitoring the salmon stocks as they come into the system, and they are also accessing the Chilcotin and Fraser River banks to ensure that any additional slumping doesn’t create new challenges to fish passage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2024.