Residents of Duncan and North Cowichan, B.C., were allowed to return home Saturday, after widespread flooding sparked evacuations in the two southeast Vancouver Island communities.

A week of rain caused the local Cowichan and Koksilah Rivers to spill over and flow past a 40-year-old network of dikes on Friday, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency and issue an evacuation order for parts of the area.

Joe Barry, a spokesperson for Cowichan Valley Regional District, said Saturday that residents were allowed to return home. But the state of emergency remained in effect as of mid-afternoon.

Flood waters submerged parked cars up to the dashboard in some cases. Three hundred homes were ordered evacuated Friday, 100 of them suffering serious water damage.

Crews began pumping out water and the flood receded somewhat on Saturday. More rain is expected in coming days and officials are continuing to monitor water levels.

But the mayor of Duncan is optimistic.

"We're pretty positive that we're over the worst of it. We don't expect that we're going to have more flood waters," Phil Kent said.

Due to a limited number of local hotel rooms, authorities asked residents whose homes have been flooded to stay with family or seek shelter in a temporary emergency centre. About 100 people registered to sleep at the centre Friday night.

Local residents seemed to be holding up well under the circumstances. Gordon Lecouffe joked about having to change his daily routine.

"I had to put my bathing suit on to get out of my house this morning," he said. "I'm driving down the street and I've got three inches of water sloshing on the floor of my car."

The extent of the damage isn't clear yet. But many residents will likely need to find other accommodation for the next several days, as they work to repair any water damage to their homes.

The B.C government said Friday it had approved disaster-assistance funding for areas affected by the flood waters. The province said it also sent thousands of sandbags, two water pumps and a helicopter to help with recovery efforts and assess the damage.

Local authorities chlorinated portions of the area's water system to prevent contamination, and said at present there are no known health risks from the flooding.

With a report from CTV's Stephen Smart and files from The Canadian Press