Squamish River boating incident, Digi Mart USA News (Squamish Valley, British Columbia): Police are investigating a fatal boating incident in the Squamish Valley on Thursday. RCMP Insp.
Robert Dykstra said the incident involved “several individuals” but did not say how many were involved, and confirmed there had been fatalities.
Dykstra said some people did make it to safety. According to a publisher report, two people are dead and one is missing, and the investigation is ongoing, so no further details are being released at this time.
Squamish Search and Rescue and North Shore Rescue responded to the Squamish River area on Thursday afternoon and night. B.C.
Emergency Health Services said it responded at 2:48 p.m. PT with three ambulances and an air ambulance, and no patients were taken to hospital.
The incident follows several days of heavy rain across the Sea-to-Sky region. Environment and Climate Change Canada recorded 135 millimetres of rain at the Squamish Airport between Tuesday morning and Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
The B.C. River Forecast Centre has issued a flood warning for the region, and the village of Pemberton and the Paradise Valley community are under shelter-in-place orders.
More than 50 properties in Líl̓wat Nation and some properties on Airport Road in Pemberton have been ordered to evacuate, and Highway 99 remains closed east of Pemberton due to flooding.
Earlier on Thursday, a woman was rescued by a passerby after her vehicle became stuck in floodwater on Squamish Valley Road. Squamish Search and Rescue manager Mike Teske said she had been in waist-height water for more than an hour and was lucky a nearby person heard her, adding that staying on the roof of a vehicle is the safest place if trapped in floodwater.
