With flooding finished and the local state of emergency lifted, the City of Courtenay and affected residents and businesses are assessing the damage caused Sunday and Monday.

“Those who are affected ... will be in touch with the Provincial Emergency Program,” said Courtenay Mayor Greg Phelps Tuesday morning, announcing the end of a tense 36 hours in the city.

A preliminary assessment estimates damage costs between $150,000 and $200,000, Phelps said Tuesday morning. Damage included Dove Creek Road, Buckstone Road and a metal retaining wall at Fifth Street.

The damage began with heavy rains over the weekend. The flows filled the Comox Lake reservoir and flushed the Browns and Tsolum rivers. All three poured into the Courtenay River — and by the time commuters began heading for work Monday morning major routes along the east side of the riverbank were flooded.

“We’re trying to discourage any traffic at all into Courtenay,” said Const. Tammy Douglas early Monday morning, after the Fifth Street bridge was closed and the 17th Street bridge was restricted to one lane each direction, travelling only to and from the Comox side of Dyke Road.

Police and emergency planners warned that the 17th Street bridge may have to close completely if water continued to rise and breached the Field Sawmill site.

In response, School District 71 closed schools early to enable transportation home for students. Courtenay council cancelled its meeting, and the Comox Valley Regional District began relocating theirs. BC Transit developed an alternate route in case the Fifth Street bridge remained closed.

The mayor declared a local state of emergency, so they could be assigned a Provincial Emergency Plan number, and access their resources if the weather continued.

It didn’t.

“Overnight was actually quite anti-climatic, which is a good thing,” said Phelps.

Not only did the Monday afternoon dry period help, but Monday night/early Tuesday morning rains didn’t come as heavily as expected, said those involved in emergency preparations.

As a result, waters in the rivers slowed and BC Hydro was able to make room in its reservoir while also cutting back spills from its dam high on the Puntledge to accommodate high tide.

“There’s a little more flexibility,” said Stephen Watson, about the state of the reservoir. “It could have been a lot worse.”

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The Comox Valley’s weather front was part of one that hit most of the southeast of B.C., said Environment Canada’s Anne McCarthy.

“It’s quite an intense frontal system,” said McCarthy, looking at the forecast. “The storm system isn’t finished with us.”

While Sunday measured only 45 mm of rain at the Comox airport, a weather watcher in Courtenay reported closer to 100 that day and night.

It’s the quintessential Pineapple Express, McCarthy explained. It’s a flow of warmer moist air from sub-tropical areas that hangs around for a while.

“This is like having the fire hose pointed at us for a prolonged period of time,” she said.

While the weather has cleared at moments over the past few days, a wind warning remains for the eastern side of Vancouver Island. Rain — and even a little snow, like the stuff that fell Monday night in parts of the Valley — are forecast over the next five days.

“I’m not putting away my Gortex yet — Gortex is good,” said McCarthy.

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The idea that there is more to come is unhappy news for those who were hit by this flooding.

An estimated 50 people were evacuated from the Maple Pool campsite/ Headquarters area. While they were hesitant to talk about it, some residents of the site lost everything they owned, the Record has learned.

Jack Minard, with the Tsolum River Restoration Society, said the river was running right into a house on the banks of Portuguese Creek. He’s been advocating for the removal of a woody debris backlog that is redirecting the river closer to the residents’ home.

“They’ve left the house,” he said about the homeowners. “It’s pretty dramatic.”

At the LINC Centre in East Courtenay on Tuesday, youth arrived to check on the facility that provides recreation for them. They found a mess‚ with silt and puddles still covering the floor, garbage strewn, and the plywood of the indoor skateboard park soaked.

City staff estimate that eight inches of water filled the floor of that building.

People affected by the flood are being asked to phone the City of Courtenay’s reception desk, where information is being collected. Emergency operations staff are in contact with the province to see if any assistance could be made available.

It’s the final stage of the emergency plan for flooding that local organizations practised last Thursday. That kind of preparation helped make their response the best it could be, said Phelps.

“I went off without a hitch,” he said.

It’s the first time a state of emergency has been called for the city — and the worst flooding since 1994, said Phelps.

reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com