The risk of flash floods appeared to have lessened at least temporarily in several communities in British Columbia's Okanagan region after water levels receded Saturday.

Dale Kronebusch of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said the water level went from about 56 centimetres above the dam to almost half that in Chute Lake.

He said a drop of 20 more centimetres will push the area north of Penticton out of the danger zone and save a forestry road from deteriorating even further.

"If the road was to blow out, because that's what was causing the concern, we had no way to know which way that bulk of water and maybe some dirt and trees and shrubs that would have been picked up along the way, would have gone."

Kronebusch said heavy rainfall in recent days has been replaced by sunshine, but that could mean faster snowmelt for the community where evacuation orders have been issued for 46 homes.

He said lights in several homes Friday night suggested those residents did not leave their property despite the order.

Heavy rains, record snowpacks and early warm weather have combined to create unique weather conditions leading to the risk of flash floods in the area.

"It's just off the wall," Kronebusch said. "It's a freak thing that we have warm weather two weeks earlier than we did last year, the same amount of snowpack and then we ended up with this horrendous rainstorm that came through."

Flooding has recently occurred in areas such as Kimberley and Tulameen, west of Kelowna, where a local state of emergency was declared earlier this week.

Kronebusch said the lakewater in Tulameen dropped by 61 centimetres from its peak earlier this week, but an evacuation alert remains in effect.

"It's sunny there today, and lots of people are coming up from Vancouver to check their place," he said, adding the seasonal community has about 175 permanent residents.

A River Forecast Centre advisory said levels in the Similkameen River tributaries were expected to drop on the weekend as conditions improved.

However, significant snowpack throughout the region means there's still a risk of floods.