A flood warning has been posted for a section of southeastern British Columbia as weekend rains and snowmelt combined to swell many rivers across the region.

The River Forecast Centre issued a flood warning Sunday for the West Kootenay region, including the Slocan and Salmo rivers and surrounding tributaries.

Flood watches also remain posted for the Kettle, West Kettle and Granby rivers in the Boundary region and the Moyie River, a tributary of the Columbia River, was added to that list Sunday.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay is maintaining what it calls an “unprecedented” evacuation alert for its entire area except the cities of Nelson and Castelgar.

Evacuation orders expanded Sunday to cover about 250 properties in the communities of Ymir and Salmo but the order issued just before midnight for the Slocan Valley was recalled within hours.

Eighteen properties around rural Grand Forks were ordered evacuated by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Sunday while the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen declared a state of local emergency posting an evacuation order for an area along the Similkameen River.

Flood watches and warnings cover southern B.C. from the Thompson and Similkameen regions east to the Alberta boundary with high streamflow advisories over most of the rest of the southern Interior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2020