At 9 p.m. on Monday, July 28, 2024 the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) issued an Evacuation Alert for several properties on Gates Creek Road and Pemberton Portage Road in the community of Birken, in Electoral Area C of the SLRD.
As of Monday, July 29, and until further notice, the Evacuation Alert remains in place.
The Evacuation Alert was issued due to increasing public safety risk caused by overland flooding and the potential for debris floods.
On July 21, 2024 a debris flood from the vicinity of Place Creek into Poole Creek caused a significant diversion of existing creeks and streams at valley bottom, resulting in overland flooding on some private properties and elevated water levels in Gates Lake.
Hazard assessments of the area, first on Friday July 26 and then on Sunday July 28, indicated that Gates Lake was very close to full capacity and not draining adequately. This, coupled with forecasted rainfall for the area, prompted the SLRD to issue an Evacuation Alert, out of an abundance of caution, due to the increasing potential for overland flooding and new debris floods that could again re-route existing water channels in unexpected ways.
Technical experts will conduct a further hazard assessment of the area on Tuesday, July 30. It will take some time to interpret this new information, but the SLRD expects that a more fulsome community update can be provided by the end of next week.
Residents are advised to use caution in the area, avoid streambanks and water channels. There is the potential for increased sediment and stream bank instability in these areas. If you witness signs of slope instability or debris flood, please contact the SLRD at 604 356 3082. Evacuation Alerts and Orders are issued through the SLRD’s Emergency Alert Notification System; sign up to receive alerts by email, text or phone.
Town Hall
The SLRD is coordinating a virtual town hall event that will take place on Thursday, August 8 from 4:30 – 6 p.m. This town hall will include a presentation from technical experts that will describe the hazard assessments being conducted this week. Details regarding the town hall event will be provided on the SLRD website prior to the event.
Click on the image to view, the two-page Infographic [PDF/2.1MB], provided by BGC Engineering:
