UPDATE: 12:35 p.m.
All four highways connecting southern B.C. to the Lower Mainland are now closed because of mudslides and landslides, as of late Monday morning.
At about 11:30 a.m., DriveBC reported a new landslide on Highway 99 east of Duffey Lake, with now no estimated time of reopening.
That comes as Highways 1, 3 and 5 are all closed heading out of Hope. The Town of Hope also continues to be essentially cut off from all other areas due to all five highways heading out of town being closed.
The worst damage to highways seen so far appears to be on the Coquihalla just north of Hope, near the Othello Road exit. Photos from the scene show a massive washout and water flowing through lanes of the freeway.
Officials say about 200 millimetres of rain had fallen on parts of the Coquihalla Highway as of 9 a.m. this morning.
“Safety is our highest priority, and we’ll continue to keep the public updated. We’re also expecting the potential for some snow on the corridor for the afternoon, which will add to our challenges,” Paula Cousins says, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation.
“Our experts are going to fly the corridor as soon as they’re able to get up there. But we do have early reports that there is some damage along the corridor. Although it’s too soon to know the full extent of that damage, which is going to determine the length of closure.”
Meanwhile, a massive search and rescue mission is underway east of Hope because of two mudslides late last night on Highway 7 at Ruby Creek. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says 80-100 vehicles are trapped along Highway 7 because of those slides.
Farnworth added that Highway 1 was expected to reopen at about 5 p.m. today, although he didn’t specify if that meant the section through the Fraser Valley, the Fraser Canyon, or both.
And east of Kamloops, Highway 1 reopened between Sicamous and Revelstoke just after 12 p.m. noon, after being closed overnight. The highway is open to Golden but the detour around the Kicking Horse Canyon construction is closed because of a winter storm – which is Highway 93 between Radium Hot Springs and Castle Junction, Alta.
Heavy rain is forecast to continue in much of southern B.C. until this evening. The storm started on Saturday night and has been exacerbated by warm temperatures that have melted snow at higher elevations.
At time of posting, the entire City of Merritt is evacuated, and a large-scale evacuation alert is in place for rural areas downstream of Kamloops Lake, within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
Drivers are also told to check DriveBC for up-to-date travel information. Its webpage showing road conditions can be found here.
