Drought conditions could cause flooding when it does finally rain on Vancouver Island

As of Thursday, there were 50 active wildfires burning in the Coastal Fire Centre – significantly more than normal for this time of year.

Port Alberni has seen more than its share of those fires, with more than a dozen in the past couple weeks. While all of those Port Alberni fires were human-caused, the tinder-dry drought conditions have added fuel to those fires, and Port Alberni Fire Chief Mike Owens worries there will be more brush fires in the coming days.

“We’ve been at extreme fire danger for weeks on end, and the immediate forecast is for us to continue be in that extreme fire danger,” said Owens Thursday.

It’s not just Port Alberni suffering the affects of this unusually hot, dry fall. The last time there was appreciable rainfall in Greater Victoria was July 3.

The Saanich Fire Department tweeted Thursday that the conditions might lead to a ban on Halloween fireworks.

For trees, the drought conditions could mean trouble when the rains do come.

Jared Barabash is an arborist with Urban Tree Care. He says some trees could come down if there’s lots rains in the coming weeks to unduly loosen the soil.

“With the root system, when the soil dries out, potentially it could create unstable conditions, especially when we get our first heavy rainfalls,” said Barabash.

Ashlee Jollymore, of the BC River Forecast Centre, says when rain does inevitably fall, if it’s a lot all at once, it could spell trouble.

“When we do get rain, if the soils are very, very dry they, will not be able to absorb that rain," Jollymore said. "That rain will enter streams very, very quickly, and that’s where you start to get your flash flood concerns as well as just concerns for flooding in general."

The province is already warning people living in typical flood zones to be ready, and has prepared four million sand bags and 32 kilometres of tiger dams just in case the parched earth gets hit hard by rains.