The City of Maple Ridge says the risk of major flooding has diminished after heavy rainfall hit the area this week.
According to a weather and river alert released by the city on Saturday morning, flooding along the North and South Alouette has minimized as the storm has come to an end.
Despite the lessened risk, the alert warns of creeks and tributaries running high.
“Please continue to be vigilant around watercourses as the rain flushes out of the water systems throughout the day,” it said.
“All dyke pumps are working at capacity and we’ve seen improvements in Albion and Hammond with the end of heavy rainfall.”
READ MORE: Heavy rain Friday night causing flooding in North Maple Ridge and Hammond
The city said their fire department and operations crews worked throughout the night implementing road closures and responding to calls for service due to the heavy rainfall and localized flooding.
“Crews will be removing road barricades throughout the morning as the water continues to recede,” they said, “We would ask that citizens respect the barricades and divert to alternate routes until the flood risks have ended.”
Workers will continue to respond to calls for service related to rain impacts to roads in the rural areas of the community
We're asking citizens to stay away from areas impacted by the heavy rainfall and refrain from moving or driving around barricades. While your vehicle might be able to traverse the area, your wake can erode roads and cause property damage to adjacent properties. Be safe. pic.twitter.com/vOxDLfsCXx
— City of Maple Ridge (@YourMapleRidge) February 1, 2020
Tanya Fish, media representative with BC Hydro, says inflows into the Alouette Resevoir are near what the forecasted.
“Right now the reservoir is not full, She said.
“We are keeping a really close eye on the situation. We had staff on site overnight and there are people there today and over the weekend but right now everything’s looking OK.
“There’s no water coming down the spillway and we’re just continuing to discharge as much as we can through our discharge gates to bring the water levels down as much as possible.”
Fish said inflows into the reservoir are the most BC Hydro has seen since they started tracking it.
“Our records go back to the 1960s and these inflows are records that we’ve seen broken over the month of January.”
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
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