The waters of the Squamish River roared under rainy skies Friday, as search and rescue crews recovered the bodies of three people who died when a boat overturned in the swollen waterway north of Vancouver, following days of heavy rain and flooding in the region.
Insp. Robert Dykstra, the officer in charge of the Sea to Sky RCMP, said there were originally about eight people aboard the boat Thursday, and police said no one is unaccounted for.
But Dykstra wasn’t sure why they were on the water or what caused the boat to overturn.
“I do believe that they ran into something. That’s all I really know at this point,” he told reporters on Friday.
Dykstra said he believed the boat was local to Squamish and he wasn’t aware of any injuries among the survivors of the incident.
The tragedy came after southwest British Columbia was drenched by a series of storms that brought more than 300 millimetres of rain to some areas this week.
The Sea to Sky corridor, including Squamish and Pemberton, was among the areas hardest hit.
Dykstra said police got the call at around 1:50 p.m. on Thursday but it took time for responders to gain access to the area because of a road washout and the state of the raging river.
Police initially said two people had died and a third was missing, but a third body was recovered by Friday afternoon.
Three full white body bags were unloaded from a helicopter at the airport in Squamish around 1:30 p.m., as low-lying clouds rolled in.
Police have not released any details about the victims or survivors.
Dykstra called the situation “tragic.”
“You never know exactly why people are doing what they’re doing sometimes,” he said, adding that “there could be any number of reasons” for the boat being on the water.
Dykstra said the best thing for people to do during major weather events is stay home and stay safe, especially around rapidly moving waters.
“These waters are unforgiving when they’re going fast.”
All of the rainfall warnings that had blanketed the region over the past week were lifted by Friday, but as weather conditions eased, effects of the deluge were still being felt.
The entire village of Pemberton, about 90 kilometres north of Squamish, remained under an evacuation alert. Evacuation orders imposed by the nearby Lil’wat First Nation, and in Zeballos on Vancouver Island, also remained in place, although an order for parts of Pemberton was downgraded to alert status.
A shelter-in-place advisory issued Thursday for some residents about 16 kilometres north of Squamish was lifted Friday. Still, residents were advised not to drive across flooded roads, and RCMP told residents to stay out of flood zones.
BC Emergency Health Services said it received a call at 2:48 p.m. on Thursday about the boat incident near the 15900 block of Squamish Valley Road. No one was taken to hospital, it said.
At the Squamish airport earlier Friday, a white pickup truck pulled an RCMP boat into the parking lot as members of the local search and rescue team gathered inside their headquarters before deploying to recover the third victim.
Legislator Jeremy Valeriote, who represents West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, said he was “devastated” and his thoughts were with the victims’ families.
Valeriote, who was re-elected as the riding’s Green legislator last month, said the Sea to Sky region “is a strong and resilient community.”
“But no one should have to navigate this alone.”
Valeriote said he and his team would support people however they could as the community begins recovering.
At an unrelated event on Friday, B.C. premier-designate Lorne Doerkson called the situation “very serious” and said he intended to visit the area.
“It’s pretty serious in our province right now. So (my) heart goes out to those families that are dealing with the losses. Of course the communities as well. These are small communities and everybody is going to feel the pain in those communities,” he said.
Wilson Williams, chairperson of the Squamish Nation, said at the same event that he was “calling upon Mother Nature” to protect those in areas dealing with the hazardous weather.
The province’s River Forecast Centre downgraded warnings it had issued for the south coast to a lower-level high streamflow advisory. It also ended flood watches for Fraser Valley north, the central coast and east Vancouver Island.
Meanwhile, residents of coastal areas of southwest B.C. were facing a new flooding risk, even as rains eased, with warnings of a storm surge that could raise sea levels.
Environment Canada said the surge could hit low-lying and exposed coastal areas of Metro Vancouver, southeast Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands.
It said elevated water levels surpassing tidal predictions were being driven by high winds and “enhanced wave activity,” and could last into the weekend.
This report by Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press, was first published Nov. 13, 2026.
