Officially, there was a flood in the Prince George region this weekend. In reality, six houses in the Foreman Flats area and 17 residences in the Paddlewheel Park vicinity were put under evacuation notice but no real flooding of homes was seen.
"The BC River Forecast Centre is forecasting the continued recession of the Fraser River over the next five days," said City of Prince George spokeswoman Chris Bone.
As of Monday, noon, the hydrology gauge at South Fort George (in the immediate area of Paddlewheel Park) showed a depth of water of 8.9 metres and was expected to drop to 8.5 metres by the end of the day.
The water during this incident peaked Saturday at 9.719 metres, with official flood threshold being 9.4 metres.
The Fraser was already high due to usual spring runoff, but climbed past the flood mark because of heavy rains throughout the Upper Fraser watershed.
"The river level may rise again as mountain snow melts through the remainder of June," said Bone. "The Nechako River [the main Fraser tributary] continues to rise, but slowly... The BC River Forecast Centre is recommending continued vigilance as 60 to 80 per cent of the snow pack remains at upper elevations."
The state of local emergency encompassing the area of Farrell Street, Houston Lane and Lower Lansdowne Road remains in place as do the evacuation orders issued to 17 residences on Farrell Street. Safety evaluations of all residences impacted by the flood will be conducted before evacuation orders are rescinded. All evacuation alerts remain in place.
