Staff in the City of Merritt say the Coldwater River did not overflow its banks on Sunday night.

Emergency Information Officer, Greg Lowis, says it was because of the work done to reinforce the dikes to protect some of Merritt’s critical infrastructure.

“Last night, we had a peak of 177 cubic metres a second coming down the Coldwater River,” Lowis said. “To put that into some historic context, any time before this whole series of events, that would have been a record flow. But as it was, it was less than half of what we dealt with two weeks ago.”

“The extra work that was done by our public works staff and by the Canadian Armed Forces, by subcontractors was absolutely incredible in reinforcing our dikes and making sure that those could hold up water that came down the river. As a result of that, we didn’t see overland flooding last night.”

Lowis says conditions on the Coldwater River have also “stabilized” enough to resume temporary access to Phase 3 properties. It means those people will be able to check on their properties and retrieve personal belongings until 3 p.m. this afternoon.

“Businesses in this area can also open if they can be open under the public health guidelines,” Lowis said. “So today, in Phase 3, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., life will hopefully look slightly closer to normal but with the incoming weather, we’re monitoring that very closely. So day access will continue to be assessed on a day by day basis.”

As of publishing, a flood warning was still in place for the Coldwater River at Merritt and the Nicola River at Spences Bridge. Warnings were also in place for the Coquihalla River above Alexander Creek and the Tulameen River at Princeton.

People who have returned home to Merritt as part of Phase 1 and 2 remain on evacuation alert, while people in Phase 4 remain out of their homes at this time.

“The safety of responders is the top priority and their well-being will not be jeopardized in situations where people choose to not follow Evacuation Orders,” the City said, in a statement, after Mayor Linda Brown noted “scattered reports” of people who threatened and intimidated flaggers.

“Abusive and aggressive behaviour directed toward flaggers, city staff or other responders will not be tolerated. These people are trying to do their job and deserve to be safe in their workplace.”

Lowis says work is still ongoing to protect critical infrastructure, to repair dikes, and to reinforce banks along the Coldwater River in Merritt where it is safe to do so in advance of Tuesday’s storm.

“Flood protection measures are also being put at strategic locations and engineers continue to assess the riverbanks,” he said.

For maps of the four phases in Merritt, go here.

For the latest updates regarding the City of Merritt, go here.  For the latest on evacuation orders and alerts in the TNRD, go here.