High flow advisory on Fraser River

The B.C. River Forecast Centre has issued an high streamflow advisory for the Fraser River at Prince George and the Robson Valley.

Heavy rain in the upper portion of the Fraser River watershed on Wednesday and Thursday forced river levels up. Between Wednesday and Thursday rain monitors at Hedrick Lake, Revolution Lake and Dome Mountain recorded up to 75mm of rain.

At the South Fort George monitor station the Fraser River was at 9.129m Friday afternoon, up from eight metres on Thursday. The average water level on the Fraser River at South Fort George is seven metres.

The B.C. River Forecast centre was predicting river levels would peak at a two-to-five year high on Friday.

At McBride the Fraser River level spiked from 6m up to 7.3m between Wednesday morning and Thursday night. The river level dropped back to 6.7m by Friday afternoon.

A highsteam flow advisory is still in effect on the Nechako River as well.

Wet weather and rapid snow melt have increased levels on the Nechako River for several weeks. Rio TInto Alcan has increased discharges from the Skins Lake Spillway to manage the Nechako Reservoir. The level on the Nechako at the Isle Pierre monitoring station was just under 4.9m on Friday afternoon.

Current streamflow information is available from the River Forecast Centre website: http://bcrfc.env.gov.bc.ca.