A season of record-breaking wildfires in British Columbia is nearly over, but officials in the Canadian province have warned that a persistent drought in the Canadian province is a “sleeping giant” which could usher in a fresh set of natural disasters, including devastating floods in the coming months.
Bowinn Ma, British Columbia’s emergency management minister said this week the unprecedented drought has the full attention of senior government officials as the region enters the “home stretch” of the province’s unprecedented wildfire season. Hundreds of blazes tore across the province this summer, leaving crews exhausted and broken, and scorching an estimated 2.2m hectares of land.
More than 400 blazes are still burning, half of which are out of control. Nearly 3,800 people remain under evacuation order in the province and 34,000 are under alert. Hundreds of structures have been destroyed by the fires.
Officials signalled a growing sense of optimism that the worst of the season had passed, but said the toll – both to ecosystems and to the economy – remained unclear.
“The end is near,” said Ma.
But persistently arid conditions, which worsened an already-brutal fire season, are now the source of mounting concern among provincial officials. The lack of rain has prompted a warning to residents that “conservation mentality” is needed for the future as the province, long accustomed to a plentiful supply of water, braces for scarcity.
“The consequences of the drought can be profound for many communities and individuals,” Ma told reporters. “I want to emphasize how significant the drought that British Columbia is facing right now. It is unlike any kind of drought conditions the province has ever faced, and in my opinion, truly is a sleeping giant of a natural disaster that we are challenged with right now. The impacts will be very, very real.”
Last year, the western-most province was hit with a prolonged drought that dried up key streams for spawning salmon. In one video clip, 65,000 dead salmon were found clogging a dried-up creek following scores of new heat records.
This year, the drought is worse, with 80% of the province’s watersheds at drought level four or five – the two highest levels.
“The best-case scenario we can hope for is extended gradual rain over long periods of time that gently recharge our reservoirs, gently recharge our stream systems and our ecosystems back to a healthy place,” said Ma.
But an official with the province’s river forecast centre warned the best-case scenario is also the least likely.
“Usually, rain falls from specific storm events that occur in relatively short periods of time,” Jonathan Boyd told reporters, adding that regions of the province where rain falls infrequently need a deluge before the ground freezes, which can happen by mid-October.
Too much rain hitting the parched ground could be disastrous.
In 2021, back-to-back atmospheric rivers led to surging rivers, mudslides, flooded cities and destroyed highways. More than 640,000 animals are known to have died from the floods and the disaster is believed to have cost nearly C$5bn ($3.65bn) in non-insured damages.
Ma pointed out that while the province had also experienced a drought in the weeks leading up to the floods, it was “nothing close to what we see this year”.
