The Tsilhqot'in National Government (TNG) has activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Wednesday, July 31 after receiving reports of a landslide near Farwell Canyon west of Williams Lake.
The TNG is asking people to avoid the Chilcotin River area due to danger of unpredictable water flow.
The slide is said to have happened in the middle of the night sometime between July 30-31.
DK Ilnicki noted on social media that the Chilcotin River is completely blocked and there is an injured camper needing assistance.
Cariboo Regional District EOC information officer Gerald Pinchbeck confirmed they have received initial reports of the landslide and have activated an initial response and information gathering phase and are coordinating with First Nations.
Alexis Creek RCMP confirmed the slide occurred at Riske Creek near the Ilnicki ranch.
Central Cariboo Search and Rescue (CCSAR) confirmed the land search and rescue team is responding to rescue the injured person.
An intense thunderstorm over Williams Lake Monday night, July 29 brought with it 29.8mm of rain in a short period of time, however, Ilnicki Ranch farmhand Greg Fisher confirmed they had very little rain at the ranch Monday.
TNG tribal chair Chief Joe Alphonse said the slide occurred in an area of Tsilhqot'in lands called Nagwentled that means slide area.
"It describes the area as a slide area and that's the way it has always been there," he said. "In my life it's the second time we've had a slide that has actually cut off the whole river."
He stressed it can be potentially dangerous for people wanting to venture out and see the slide for themselves.
"People should stay away," he said, noting the river will keep backing up and filling up with debris and putting pressure on all the soil. "When there is so much constant pressure it will eventually blow out again and open up. That's what happened the last time and that is what we are anticipating will happen again."
Alphonse said he hopes any nearby ranches will be OK and people living close to the Chilcotin River are not affected.
"It's difficult. Water can be a really strong element out there. Land upstream may become unstable because of the pressure and all that. Let's let the experts have access, let's stand afar and watch from afar."
Ken Ilnicki of Ilnicki Ranch said he had gone out to turn on the water at about 6:30 a.m. when he noticed he could not hear the river running.
"I came back to the house and could see the slide from a distance," he said.
He and his mechanic and farmhand went down to see the slide up closer and could hear what they thought was a cow calling.
Once they turned the truck off, they could hear someone yelling "help."
A man in the slide area told them he had floating down the river on a boat with his dog and stopped to camp.
"He told us the slide happened in the middle of the night," Ilinicki said. "He broke his leg and lost his dog too."
CCSAR information officer Debra Bortolussi said two of her members were dispatched at around 8 a.m. to the slide area.
"They flew in with Frontline Helicopters and landed on the top of the slide essentially," she said. "They walked down to the patient, assessed his injuries and packed him onto a stretcher and carried him up to the helicopter."
From there they flew to Williams Lake and handed the patient off to BC Emergency Health Services who transported him to Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
"The last I heard he was receiving treatment from the Cariboo Memorial Hospital. The story he stated was that he had set up camp for the night and around midnight or so he heard some rumbling so he got up and started running and told his dog to run too," Bortolussi said. "He said he sustained his injuries running. We are hoping they find his dog."
TNG fisheries manager Randy Billyboy was pacing along the bench looking at the slide and taking photographs.
He said there was a similar slide in 2004 along the Chilcotin River but in Farwell Canyon which is east from the Ilnicki's Ranch.
"When it happened we actually saw sockeye on the other side of the bank."
The July 31 slide is much more intense, he said.
"The river is rising and is already much higher. We have the Taseko, the Chilko and the Chilcotin all coming down."
Billyboy said the majority of the water is coming from the Taseko River, which is glacier fed.
"We had another one by Yunesit'in one year and it almost covered the river, but it was much smaller and there was an area left open that was about two or three feet wide."
Ilnicki said he thinks it will take at least two days for the river to rise naturally and make its way through again.
Tsilhqot'in elder Joan Gentles, 77, said in her lifetime a slide has closed the river three times that she remembers.
Her family lived at Riske Creek.
More to come
