Some moderate ebbs and flows could still be in the cards before this year's spring freshet is over.
The depth of the Fraser River at South Fort George peaked at 9.14 metres on Wednesday - 2.6 centimetres short of flood level - and has since remained largely on a downward trend, bottoming out at 8.81 metres on Monday before rising slightly to 8.86 metres as of early afternoon.
That it could get a bit higher yet remains a possibility, River Forecast Centre head Dave Campbell said Tuesday during a teleconference, depending in particular on how much rain falls.
"At this point we would be expecting on the order of similar or a little bit above what we saw last week as a potential," Campbell said. "We're not expecting significant or dramatic rises."
The ongoing spate of hotter-than-usual weather has made a significant dent in the area snowpacks.
As of May 15, the level for Upper Fraser East stood at 74 per cent, compared to 112 per cent as of May 1, while that for the Nechako was at 90 per cent, down from 103 per cent two weeks previously. No data was available for Upper Fraser West, which stood at 264 per cent as of May 1.
"I think we'll continually need to watch the Upper Fraser for the next week to two weeks because of that high flow and the risks that are there," Campbell said. "On the Nechako side of things we've seen some improvement and drops in levels."
An evacuation alert remained in effect for 18 homes along Farrell Street while Paddlewheel Park remained behind a ribbon. The island at Cottonwood Island Park also remained closed as did the Heritage River Trail from the canoe launch to Taylor Drive.
