Water breaches landslide damming Chilcotin River [Video]

UPDATE, Aug. 6, 2024: Surge of water from Chilcotin landslide dam breach fills Fraser River

People are being urged to stay away from the banks of the Chilcotin and Fraser rivers after water finally breached the dam created by last week’s huge landslide.  

The province of British Columbia issued an emergency alert Monday morning after water began spilling over the slide blocking the Chilcotin River.

The alert, sent at at 10:35 a.m. PT, urged residents anywhere along the banks of the Chilcotin River from Hanceville to the Fraser River, and anywhere along the banks of the Fraser River from the Chilcotin River to the Gang Ranch bridge around 25 kilometres downstream, to evacuate immediately.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Connie Chapman with B.C.’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said the water had since created a 15-metre-wide channel in the dam and was breaching it at a “moderate pace.” She added the dam …