Rain has been a serious topic of discussion in BC all fall. You might remember Emmett's October entry into weather reporting. If not, you can see it here.

BC has just finished a third 'Atmospheric River' in less than 2 weeks - and this is after one of the wettest fall seasons on record. Blog readers will remember that our October camping trip was almost entirely drenched in rain. We didn't have this rain gauge up and running for the first atmospheric river. The second one that hit was coupled with high winds and that toppled the rain gauge. But we captured the most recent one (for the record, the first was the worst, the second was not good but it was not as bad as the second one. These weather updates focus on this most recent atmospheric river. By the way, atmospheric river is a term coined in the 1990's although it's really come to everyones' attention this year.

Literally a ton of rain falling in a 24 hour period - and this has been happening over and over again - has been what has devastated BC. In Emmett's words, "Grandpa Roger and Grandma Rhonda live on a mountain that has been turned into an island.", that is because the roads to their home were literally under more than a metre of water.

Some have asked how we are and that is greatly appreciated. Our homes and families are safe. The Sumas Prairie flooding is about 3 kilometres from us. The elevation in those areas is approximately 1 metre above sea level. Emmett's family live at elevation levels from 40 to 50 metres above sea level. We also live on relatively level ground thus are not at risk of mud slides - which have been devastating in the mountain areas throughout BC. The trans Canada highway at Abbotsford has been underwater. Mud slides, washed out bridges and roads, and flooding has literally caused the evacuation of complete cities and the complete disruption of all road and rail traffic to the West Coast. For us, we move on relatively normally. But we have friends who have lost everything. BC is under a state of emergency.

We hope that this helps you understand a bit more about the floods in BC - an internet search will provide many more shocking details.