The forecast time for today’s king tide to hit Richmond’s waters has come – and the city’s flood defences seem to be holding up, thus far.
However, there are photos on social media of the storm surge seeping onto London Landing in Steveston this morning.
Heavy rain, strong winds and a king tide predicted for Tuesday morning at around 9:30 a.m. prompted a storm surge warning for many coastal communities in the Lower Mainland, including Richmond.
But according to photos and a video posted to social media, the City of Richmond’s flood defences are holding up down at Britannia Heritage Shipyards in Steveston.
However, Mitchell Island was closed to traffic at Tuesday lunchtime due to the rising king tide storm surge, with reports of partially submerged cars and people stranded on the industrial island.
The sea level – according to photos and video posted to Twitter by “McLuchador” - appears to be extremely high, but the so-called “flood wall” appears to be doing its job in keeping the rising tide at bay.
A spokesperson for the city said that the winds are, so far, not as strong as predicted, adding that city crews are monitoring tide levels, and conducting continuous dike inspections.
Environment Canada had issued a flood and rainfall warning for low-lying areas across Metro Vancouver, including Richmond, Delta and Vancouver.
Two winter storms were expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the south coast, resulting in 60 to 120 mm of rain by Wednesday morning.
While the flood warning was for Tuesday morning, water levels at Richmond's West Dyke looked higher on Monday already, according to Coun. Bill McNulty's Twitter post.
