Too much some places.
Record-breaking rainfall has drowned Abbotsford streets and fields with precipitation and prompted a flood alert yesterday for Sumas Prairie.
But ironically, the heavy rains have also led officials from the Central Fraser Valley Water Commission to urge citizens of Abbotsford and Mission to conserve water.
The Norrish Creek water supply was shut down Thursday because the rainfall resulted in mud flowing into the water source. As well, rain caused damage to the access roads to the Norrish Creek water plant, delaying response to the problem.
While water is being drawn from backup wells and Cannell Lake, water commission spokesman Mike Derbyshire said they are having trouble meeting water demands.
"The commission is requesting that all non-essential water use be reduced as much as possible," he said.
While Derbyshire is urging people to watch their water consumption, a command centre at the City of Abbotsford was closely monitoring water levels.
Yesterday morning, the city issued a flood warning for areas within the Nooksack River basin, including the Sumas Prairie area of east Abbotsford.
Mid-morning, the river was 2.9 feet above the flood stage, which is 12 feet, and the river was overflowing its banks in Everson, Wash. located south of Abbotsford.
"The rising waters may cause widespread flooding and everyone is asked to avoid the flooded areas," the City of Abbotsford advised in a press release.
Residents of Sumas Prairie were urged yesterday to take appropriate action to protect their property and livestock, and the Abbotsford school district closed Upper Sumas elementary on Vye Road yesterday afternoon in response to the flood threats.
While water levels in the Nooksack had dropped to 13.34 feet (at Deming, Wash. near Everson) at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, the Abbotsford emergency operations centre is still closely monitoring the situation.
"The thing that's working against us is it's still pouring," said Abbotsford Police Const. Shinder Kirk at around 2 p.m. yesterday.
Meteorologist David Jones said yesterday afternoon that 138 millimetres of rain has fallen in Abbotsford between 11 a.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m. on Friday. Normally, the entire month of October sees 150 millimetres of precipitation fall from the sky.
The downpour this week is drowning precipitation records for Abbotsford. On Thursday, 93.8 millimeters of rain gushed down on the city, surpassing the October one-day rainfall record, which sits at 83.3 millimetres.
Thursday's rain was also the second highest one-day precipitation level on record since 1944 - the highest was 95 millimetres on Nov. 3, 1971.
Yesterday also seemed poised to produce another shattered record. "You've got a shot at it," said Jones, who calls this week's storm a "once in a lifetime" downpour.
By 11 a.m. yesterday, 32 millimetres had fallen in Abbotsford, and the rains continued to drench the city in the afternoon. The most rain recorded on an Oct. 17 is 49 millimetres, set back in 1975.
Twenty-five millimeters of rain is expected today.
In addition to falling records, hillsides also fell in Abbotsford.
On Thursday evening, mud slid down behind Sandy Hill elementary, and Friday afternoon, a minor creek was running across the playground and onto the street north of the school.
Students in one portable were moved into the main school building as a precaution, and workers were out yesterday, building a berm to protect the school.
Sandy Hill was also one location that battled power outages, as 3,800 B.C. Hydro customers were without electricity yesterday afternoon.
Various businesses and Eugene Reimer middle school in west Abbotsford also battled flooding, and a number of low-lying roads were under water.
Gladwin Road north of Downes Road was also closed yesterday because of flooding.
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