The Liard River on the border between British Columbia and the Yukon is under a flood warning Thursday.

The B.C. Environment River Forecast Centre issued the warning late Wednesday night, saying river levels — at more than 14 metres — are nearing 10-year highs, with water rising at a rate up to four centimetres an hour.

The river rose rapidly on Tuesday and Wednesday "following snowmelt and a heavy rain event," according to the warning bulletin posted at 10:45 p.m. PT Wednesday.

"We have five houses in danger of being flooded out," said Jeff Munro, executive director of the Daylu Dena Council in Lower Post, B.C., just across the Yukon border.

The council has a plan in place to remove the people and protect the houses with sandbags, Munro told CBC News.

Munro said it rained all Wednesday night, and water levels have risen by about 45 centimetres over the last two days.

"We're monitoring the situation 24 hours," he said. "We're not going to evacuate anybody [from their houses] until it's absolutely necessary. Right now, it's about two inches up to the dyke levels. It's close."

Flooding woes spread

On the Yukon side of the border, residents of the Watson Lake area are watching water levels in the Upper Liard, west of the community.

"In the Upper Liard, the river has come up quite a bit overnight. There's starting to be a bit of minor flooding in low-lying areas," Sgt. John Bennett of the Watson Lake RCMP said Thursday.

"The safety of the community is something that we're aware of and we're working with all the local government agencies, as well as EMO, to ensure this gets dealt with effectively."

A small number of homes are at risk, but there have been no evacuations to date, Bennett said.

The federal Indian and Northern Affairs Department has sent 5,000 sandbags to both Lower Post and the Upper Liard region. Department officials say they will ensure sand and plastic sheeting are also provided to both communities to help protect homes.

Meanwhile, a local state of emergency has been declared a little further south in Telegraph Creek in northern B.C. Rising flood waters have left 300 people in the community cut off from the outside world. Flood waters at the confluence of the Tahltan and Stikine Rivers are over a metre deep.