Evacuation order issued for 3 properties in North Vancouver

Three properties in the Deep Cove area of North Vancouver were ordered to evacuate Saturday night.

The District of North Vancouver issued the evacuation order at 7 p.m., saying it was due to “debris flood risk that could pose a public safety risk and imminent threat to people and property.” The district declared a state of local emergency, which enables it to order evacuations.The three affected properties are:

• 2514 Panorama Drive
• 5297 Indian River Drive
• 5313 Indian River Drive

In a statement, the district explained that last weekend’s atmospheric river filled channels of the Ostler and Panorama Creeks “limiting their capacity to withstand future heavy rainfall events.”

This is the second time the district has ordered evacuations in the aftermath of record-breaking rainfall during a storm that claimed four lives on B.C.’s South Coast.

District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little told CTV News Sunday that the evacuations were ordered out of an abundance of caution, explaining that the amount of debris clogging the channels has created a risk of flooding even in the event of “a rather modest rainstorm.”

In once of the creeks, the pile of rocks is 10 feet deep, 30 feet wide, and about 1,000 feet long.

“It’s tens of thousands of cubic feet of stone that’s come down,” Little said. In order for people to safely return, substantial progress will need to be made on clearing the debris.

The district was hard-hit by the atmospheric river, with roughly 340 millimetres of rainfall. Little said traditional modelling would characterize the storm as a one in 100-year event but that climate change means extreme weather is becoming more common.

“We’re going to have to prepare for that,” he said. “But this was an extraordinary storm.”

In total, Little says eight people had t leave their homes and that emergency supports are available, as needed.