Officials Now Monitoring New Brunswick Rivers For Signs of Flooding

River Watch 2013 is underway in New Brunswick. With potentially heavy rains predicted over the next 24 hours, officials will be closely monitoring rivers and streams for signs of flooding.

River levels are expected to rise as parts of New Brunswick could get more than 40 millimeters (1 ½ inches) of rain through the end of the day Wednesday.

While rising water levels can be predicted well in advance, it’s much more difficult to forecast ice jams.  It was a year ago that ice jams built up on the St. John River at Perth-Andover, leading to some of the worst flooding the town had seen in 25 years.

Environment and Local Government Minister Bruce Fitch said, “Several enhancements to our monitoring and forecasting are being made this year to ensure the information provided is as up-to-date as possible and will provide timely information to New Brunswickers who could be affected by flooding.”

Officials say the good news is the snow pack is down significantly over the past 10 days, thanks to a long, slow melt.

River Watch is a partnership between the Department of Environment and Local Government and the Department of Public Safety's New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, along with NB Power and other agencies.

You can find the latest River Watch information here.