DUNCAN - The River Forecast Centre has issued a flood watch for portions of Vancouver Island, including the flood-ravaged Cowichan Valley. A flood watch means river levels are rising and may spill over their banks. Flooding of areas adjacent to affected rivers may also occur. The advisory comes just before another warm, wet storm hits Vancouver Island, the third major frontal system in the past nine days.

Many people living near the Cowichan and Koksilah Rivers are still cleaning up after severe flooding last Friday. A crew was out sandbagging the dyke along Beverly Street Tuesday as a precaution against heavy rainfall in the forecast for the next 24 hours. "We're trying to avoid a repeat," store manager of The Home Depot in Duncan Tim Robertson said as he took a break from piling sand bags along the dyke. "Hopefully no water will break the dyke."

On the bright side, the River Forecast Centre says unlike last week, the peak river levels are expected to correspond with low tides on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The opposite happened this past Friday, when river levels peaked at high tide, causing widespread flooding in Duncan and North Cowichan.