Some Pemberton Valley residents return home while others still on evacuation order due to floods

Vancouver -

Some people living in the Village of Pemberton have been given the green light to return home after being forced to evacuate Saturday, thanks to crews who worked to protect their homes.

Hundreds more in the Pemberton Valley remain on evacuation order as the Lillooet River continues to run fast and high after already spilling its banks in some places.

Mike Richman, mayor for the village, has lived in the area for more than 30 years and says he has never seen the kind of heat that is scorching the valley now.

He does recall other times when the river flooded roads and some properties, but not at this time of year.

“Mostly those events would come in the fall with what we call a rain on snow event. Not in my time have we ever seen it like this,” he said.

At 5 p.m. Monday, officials closed the Pemberton Airport. The road to it had already been restricted.

The heat enveloping much of the south coast is to blame for the rapid rise in the Lillooet River.

“Well, this is runoff. The tops of the mountains are not cooling off at night they way they usually do and so everything is melting and we’ve got it all coming down here,” said local John Parnell, after pulling over at the side of the highway to see the swelling river.

Richman echoed those comments, saying the constant above-average temperatures have interrupted the normal daily cycle of the area’s watershed. In the past, even on days when it reached 35 C, the temperature would drop enough that people would be “looking for a sweater by 10 in the evening,” said Richman.

“The snow melt that (normally) occurs at this time every year slows down at night. The river drainage system has a chance to catch up, so to speak, and recover for the next day as the heat comes back.”

But that’s not what’s happening right now. Instead, the snowpack continues to melt rapidly even at night.

Flood forecasters don’t expect the river to crest until Wednesday at the earliest, and it’s unlikely the evacuation order will be lifted for any more properties before that happens.