Flooding and evacuations in areas of the Cariboo have people in Kamloops wondering what may be in store for us.

Emergency Response Coordinator for the Thompson Nicola Regional District Kevin Skrepnek, was on the NL Morning News and said Kamloops could be in for some trouble if the conditions are right.

“Yeah, I think particularly we’re kind of putting our eye towards the North Thompson right now in terms of where we could be having some challenges there,” he said. “Both of those, North and South Thompson of course, we’re seeing some extraordinarily high snow packs for both of those.”

He says at the last update, the snowpack at the North Thompson river was at 117 per cent above normal for this time of year, while for the South Thompson, it was 123 per cent.

“So, that’s certainly for us as well as a number of communities along those rivers and definitely Kamloops,” Skrepnek said, noting that officials will be ready if things take a turn for the worse.

“Very much kind of a preparing for that, what we could be seeing. Obviously we want to be a prepared as possible and prepare for the worst and hope for the best but it is all going to depend on how the weather plays out over the next month, month and a half here.”

The Chair of the TNRD, Ken Gillis, was on the Jeff Andreas show, and says there are concerns about flooding in Westwold and Cherry Creek.

“The last I heard people are saying that the water is, at least in many areas, running off quickly and early,” Gillis said. “So the usual flooding season in May will perhaps not be quite as devastating as it could otherwise have been.”

He says officials have dropped off sand and sandbags in areas that might be affected so people are able to take precautions, which could be a challenge given the rules around social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Skrepnek says, from a flooding perspective, the weather has been great, with daytime temperatures in the high teens and no significant rainfall but admits there are still several weeks before we’re out of the woods.

– With files from Jeff Andreas