Hundreds of people in southeastern British Columbia might have to leave their homes in the next few days to escape rising waters and firefighters are on standby with a quarter-million sandbags to hold the floods back.

Passmore and Slocan B.C. in the West Kootenay area

FROM MAY 22, 2006: Contaminated water, more rain adds to flood fears in southeastern B.C.

Already 53 homes in Passmore and Slocan Park have been evacuated due to rising rivers caused by heavy rain and melting snowpacks. Hundreds more in the West Kootenay area have been told to be ready to leave on short notice.

As much as 25 millimetres of rain was expected Monday evening, and perhaps 20 mm more is being forecast for Tuesday. Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week.

The Slocan River is higher than many locals can recall.

"In the summer, I would say every other year I could walk across it.," said Don Munro, who lives within 100 metres of the Little Slocan, a tributary of the now-raging Slocan. "That's our island over there, so we can actually walk across the river.  Now it would be, oh, 10 feet [three metres] deep."

Munro and his family are on evacuation alert, so they could be told to leave within an hour.

Unusually high temperatures that have melted snow in the mountains have combined with the recent heavy rainfall to cause flooding in the valleys.

"When the rains hit them [the snowpacks] they just melt, they just bring everything down," said Terry Warren, the local emergency response co-ordinator. "So it's really heavily soaked wet snow hanging on the mountains."

Emergency officials say they are well-prepared with sandbags and manpower if the coming rain brings down the rest of the snow.

And officials in Nelson, worried about water contamination, have warned people to restrict their use of sewage and septic tank systems.

The province has advised residents to be aware of the taste, colour and smell of the water they are drinking and to boil it should it appear irregular.

On the weekend, a man was swept away after falling into a creek in Penticton.

 

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Passmore and Slocan B.C. in the West Kootenay area