Running through a Cumberland forest clutching their Easter baskets Sunday, Lucas Ocean and his cousin Bay raced to show the treasure they’d found.
“It’s good for the trees,” said Ocean.
A waterfall surged through the forest as water rushed over rocks from an intense weekend storm that saturated the coast via powerful rain and snow melt after an unusually dry winter.
At Jim Adcock’s Fanny Bay farm, it was cause for celebration.
“This rain is really, really needed,” said Alcock. “We have had a really dry spring, particularly around here. So good to see the rain come.”
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Meanwhile, volunteer Barry Seeley was monitoring a salmon-bearing creek on east Vancouver Island. He says the water levels have risen just in time, as Coho salmon smolts will soon travel through those waters.
“Yes, it’s a good thing to see them travel because we were worried they couldn’t even travel two weeks ago,” said Seeley of the Fanny Bay Salmon Enhancement Society.
Records were expected to fall in Comox, where nearly twice the highest rainfall ever recorded was forecast Sunday.
In Port Alberni, four times the record rainfall was expected, and in Qualicum Beach, seven times the record rain was due Sunday.
“What? It’s lovely. Can’t ask for better waves and winds,” said Victoria windsurfer Alex Zolpys as he launched into the waves of Columbia Beach.
The storm’s heavy rain did cause flooding in low-lying areas, but fortunately, no major damage was reported by late Sunday as the rains filled reservoirs and streams that were already depleted from the dry winter.
“We’ve got to fill up the aquifers and all of our reserves so that we’ve got plenty of water for this summer,” added Adcock.
“If it’s as dry as it was last year, we’ll need that water.”
Skye Ryan
