‘Extreme flooding’ reported in Haida Gwaii amid rainfall warning for B.C.’s North Coast

A washout has closed Highway 16 on Haida Gwaii as a round of heavy rain lashes B.C.’s North Coast.

DriveBC says the highway is closed between Lawnhill Road and Miller Road, for a 5.3-kilometre stretch, with no detour in place as of 1 p.m. PT on Monday.

Resident Alex Rinfret posted pictures of the washout, near Jungle Beach.

She said her husband told her the roadway was flooded on Sunday, but hadn’t yet collapsed. On Monday though, when she and her son tried to drive through on their way south to the airport in Sandspit, Rinfret saw a “giant gash” on the highway.

“Way worse than just a big puddle, like the highway is completely gone,” she said. “There’s a giant gap that you cannot get across with a vehicle.”

Rinfret said her son had few other options other than to hike along the nearby beach, get across the highway gap and be driven to the airport from there.

She said the washout along the highway is unlike anything she’s seen before on Haida Gwaii, and it means a critical north-south route on the archipelago is completely cut off.

Rinfret said she worries for people needing to access health-care services or fresh groceries, and hopes the stretch is fixed by the time she needs to drive south to Daajing Giids on Tuesday.

“It looked like an earthquake or something had happened. It just destroyed it,” she said.

In a statement, the Haida Nation said that there was “extreme flooding” on Haida Gwaii after high levels of rain followed a bout of snow.

The nation warned residents that backroads and remote routes weren’t safe.

“Conditions are unstable, many forest service roads are inaccessible or impassable, and attempting to use them may put individuals at serious risk and impede emergency response efforts,” the nation’s statement read.

North Coast-Haida Gwaii MLA Tamara Davidson said the province’s transportation ministry is reviewing plans to create a temporary structure to deal with the washout.

While she said there was no exact timeline for when that could go into place, she said officials are advising residents to stay clear of fast-flowing rivers at this point.

ER on diversion

There are two hospitals on the Haida Gwaii archipelago — one in Masset on the island’s northern tip and another in Daajing Giids.

The emergency room at the Northern Haida Gwaii Hospital in Masset will be on diversion every day starting Monday, with the ER only open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., every day until Jan. 4, 2026, according to Northern Health.

That means that anyone needing emergency care before 8 a.m. or after 3 p.m. would be redirected to the Haida Gwaii Hospital in Daajing Giids, in what is the latest set of ER closures to affect the Masset hospital.

A spokesperson for Northern Health said the health authority was aware of the highway situation, and it encouraged anyone needing emergency care to continue to call for help if needed.

They said they’re working with B.C. Emergency Health Services on solutions like ambulance-only access to Northern Haida Gwaii Hospital and air transport options.

Flood watch

The washout comes amid a flood watch from the B.C. River Forecast Centre for Haida Gwaii and the North Coast, with nearby rivers possibly reaching or exceeding bank levels due to the rain.

“Localized high flows are expected due to heavy rainfall rates and rain-on-snow melt run-off in outer coastal areas near Prince Rupert and on Haida Gwaii,” an advisory from the centre says.

“Hazards include swift water, road washouts and increased potential of landslide activity.”

Environment Canada has also issued a yellow rainfall warning for parts of B.C.’s North Coast region, with some areas expecting as much as 200 millimetres on Monday.

The weather agency says the heaviest rain is expected around Prince Rupert, B.C., some 750 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

Haida Gwaii, meanwhile, is expected to receive up to 110 millimetres of rain, while 100 millimetres is forecast near Kitimat.

Ken Dosanjh, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said in an interview that Haida Gwaii and the North Coast were being sandwiched by two high-pressure systems in the Yukon and southwest B.C.

“In between, what we’ve essentially created is a storm highway in between these two high-pressure systems,” he told CBC News.

Dosanjh said that Haida Gwaii had seen an excess of 100 millimetres of rain over a 48-hour period, with an atmospheric river storm system coming up from the south Pacific.

“What’s happened is it has more moisture, but it’s the duration that’s been the main concern,” he said. “It’s just been persistent moderate to heavy rainfall over a long period of time.”

Up to 40 centimetres of snow has been forecast for the two main roads linking the Alaskan Panhandle and Yukon through B.C., the South Klondike Highway and Haines Road, due to the latest weather system.

Environment Canada has also issued a warning for up to 15 centimetres of snow in the Cassiar Mountains area, along the B.C.-Yukon border.