KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Environment Canada has posted severe thunderstorm watches for a large section of British Columbia's central and southern Interior, an area that is already seeing spring flooding.
An evacuation order has been issued for Fintry Provincial Park on the northwest side of Okanagan Lake, while the River Forecast Centre says a flood watch is up for Mission Creek through East Kelowna and the Salmon River in Falkland, near Vernon.
Those areas were hit Thursday night by overnight thunderstorms, as was Kamloops, where the deluge caused several already-swollen creeks to burst their banks.
Noble Creek and Cherry Creek near Kamloops have flooded and resident Kimberley Redman says high water from Cherry Creek has washed out a bridge, culverts and part of a street.
The DriveBC website, which reports on provincial highway conditions, shows Highway 99 east of Pemberton has been cut by an avalanche at Duffey Lake, while a rock slide severed Highway 16 just east of the boundary with Alberta.
The website says both the routes are closed until further notice, while a washout has also closed Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge.
