The B.C. government says people along the banks of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers downstream from a massive landslide should evacuate immediately after water began flowing through the slide.
An emergency alert issued by the province Monday says anyone along the banks of the rivers from Hanceville to the Fraser River, and on down to the Gang Ranch Road Bridge south of Williams Lake, must leave the area due to flooding and debris that “poses a threat to human life.”
Images posted online today by the province and aerial footage over the slide site shared by Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s water and resource minister, show water getting through the massive slide.
The Tsilhqot'in National Government says in a social media post that people should also avoid river banks that were submerged by the lake that formed behind the slide.
Tsilhqot'in Chief Joe Alphonse says the water backed up enough to start carving a path through the slide debris, and impacts on upcoming salmon runs remain his nation’s biggest concern.
B.C. officials had issued an evacuation order Sunday night for an area just north of where the Chilcotin River meets the Fraser River because of the danger of flooding caused by the landslide.
In a news release late Sunday, officials with the Cariboo Regional District told residents to leave “immediately” and said people who chose to stay did so at their own risk. The evacuation order covered 3.5 square kilometres.
The massive landslide last week at Farwell Canyon located about 22 kilometres south of Williams Lake dammed the Chilcotin River and created a lake about 11 kilometres long behind the slide.
The Tsilhqot'in First Nation said that as of Sunday morning the slide was holding back 61 million cubic meters of water, equalling “24,400 Olympic swimming pools.”
