CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Sunday, Jul. 22, 2012 12:00PM EDT
Officials in have declared a state of emergency in Quesnel B.C., amidst fears of a flash flood.
A landslide close to the central B.C. city of 10,000 is backing up water in nearby Baker Creek to a depth of 10 to 12 feet.
Specialists with Emergency Management British Columbia (EMBC) visited the site near Pinnacles Provincial Park Friday and determined the landslide may have occurred as early as June 28.
While officials are confident the blockage will not collapse, they asked Quesnel residents to stay away from the creek in the province’s Cariboo region.
If a breach were to occur, EMBC specialists estimated about 30 cubic metres of water would be released every second and the water would eventually drop to 25 cubic metres per second by the time it reached city limits.
The state of emergency is expected to remain in effect until at least Monday morning.
“The creek may appear to be at a low level downstream of the slide; this is deceiving and may change rapidly,” states a news release from the City of Quesnel.
