Police in Chilliwack, BC, issued a shelter-in-place alert last night, just after 8 p.m. local time. The Chilliwack RCMP say the incident was unfolding in the 46-thousand block of Knight Road, near Melville, Queens and Downes — in the area of the Skowkale First Nation. The Upper Fraser Valley RCMP detachment’s Twitter account noted that the situation involved shots fired. Police also asked people in the area to not report police movements on social media.
BC Ferries says its website, mobile app and call centre were down due to an IT issue over the long weekend. The company issued several tweets as it worked to fix the issue, saying it had received no reports about any problems with its reservation system. The ferry corporation says it quickly identified the issue hours after the outage and provided scheduling updates on Twitter throughout Monday morning until the afternoon when the system came back online. BC Ferries apologized to those affected by the outage as people inquired about the busy long weekend travel situation.
Environment Canada says BC’s Peace River District is in for a prolonged period of heavy rain today, with some locations set to be hit by up to 100 millimetres of rain. Rainfall warnings issued Monday say several regions in the province’s northeast can expect intense periods of rainfall today as a “significant and slow-moving low-pressure system” from Alberta brings heavy rainfall throughout today. The agency says the downpours carry the risk of flash floods and is warning people to watch for washouts near creeks, rivers and culverts. Environment Canada also says the BC Interior is set to be hit by wildfire smoke over the coming days and there may be poor air quality and low visibility in some areas.
The BC Supreme Court says crown prosecutors failed to prove their case against a man accused of setting a deadly fire at a Prince George hotel that killed three people. Justin Aster was found not guilty last week of one count of arson and three counts of criminal negligence causing death related to a fire at an Econo Lodge Motel in the city in July 2020. Justice Margot Fleming acquitted Aster, saying the fire could’ve been the result of spontaneous combustion of construction debris or a lit cigarette butt. Video evidence showed Aster was in the area around the time of the blaze, but didn’t show him or anyone setting the fire and the circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough to convince the judge.
A former Vancouver Park Board commissioner says access problems in Stanley Park remain after car traffic and cyclists clashed during the removal of a dedicated bike lane. Tricia Barker says her drive through the park over the weekend took nearly an hour from Second Beach to the Stanley Park Causeway. Barker says a cyclist hit her car in frustration as he couldn’t navigate through the traffic jam, which she says is the result of the closing of an exit to Beach Avenue. She says tweets about her experience were viewed tens of thousands of times, as controversy continues over the city’s decision to remove temporary bike lanes through the park.
The Vancouver Park Board says several beaches had a shortage of lifeguards this long weekend and it told swimmers taking a dip that they were doing so at their own risk. The board says Sunset Beach, Spanish Banks West and Second Beach were all without lifeguards on Sunday and Monday. It says the shortage also resulted in limited drop-in spots at city-owned pools at New Brighton and Second Beach. The board said on Twitter Monday that Spanish Banks West remained unguarded as the May long weekend came to a close.
The BC Ministry of Forests says it has lifted high stream flow advisories for several rivers as temperatures dropped over the long weekend. The ministry says it ended advisories for the Nass and Stikine rivers and their tributaries, but maintained one for the Liard River in the north. Lower temperatures eased snow melt conditions after a spate of hot weather across much of the province last week. The ministry says rain in the forecast and snow melt over the last week around the Liard watershed may see the river’s continued and gradual rise.