A slight drop in Shuswap Lake’s water level is no reason to start removing sandbags.
On Tuesday, June 9, the website Shuswap Lake Watch, which records daily and historic lake levels, showed a small drop from the most recent peak measurement. Tom Hansen, co-ordinator with the Shuswap Emergency Centre, said this measurement reflects recent information from the province, that water levels in the region have stabilized, or have gone down slightly. However, as snow at upper elevations continues to melt, Shuswap Lake and local river levels are expected to remain high, if not increase slightly with coming rains.
“The big ‘What if?’ is basically what comes in terms of rain?” said Hansen, noting precipitation, with the possibility of a severe rainstorm, are in the forecast for the coming weekend.
“If that materializes and we get significant rainfall, then things could see a little bump if you will…,” said Hansen. “We’re not out of the woods completely yet. At the same time, I don’t think we’ll see a massive increase coming based on the information they’ve given us.”
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Hansen added the recent cooler wet weather, typical of June, has helped prevent worse flooding conditions in the region.
With the potential for weekend storms, Hansen warned there can be an increase of wave activity on Shuswap Lake, adding to the flood risk for properties around the lake. He advised that any protective measures in place not be removed.
“When they tell us potential for severe storms this weekend, that can add a lot of wave-on-the-lake action and then you can get two, three-foot waves crashing on top of the lake,” said Hansen. “We know there’s a lot of places around there susceptible to that wave flooding.”