Public Safety Notice For Puntledge River System Through Next Week

A public safety notice for people to stay away from the Puntledge River system through next week.

As the rainfall warning continues, Environment Canada says another 25-40 mms of rain is expected throughout the day and evening on Wednesday before things start to settle down Thursday morning.

BC Hydro’s Stephen Watson says river flows over the next week may be up to three times of normal. Temporary safety signage along the river is already up.

Watson says after a record dry late summer, this fall has started off fairly wet.

From October 9 through October 16, he says we’ve had about 185 mm of rainfall in the upper watershed.

How this latest storm tracks will determine how much water inflows may enter the Comox Lake Reservoir.

As of Tuesday, the Comox Lake Reservoir water level was 134 metres above sea level and rising, having moved up about 65 mm since Sunday.

Water begins to free-spill over the Comox Dam at 135.33 metres. Watson says the good news is the weather turns drier on Thursday.

Discharge from the Comox Dam has increased from about 37 cubic metres per second (m3/s) up to 90 m3/s over the next week depending on the storm inflows.