Water still rising in Okanagan Lake
RDOS board gets rundown on flood-prevention efforts
Nearly 50,000 empty bags and 87 truckloads of sand have been distributed in the past two weeks to help with flood-prevention efforts, the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen heard Thursday.
“And we’re not done yet,” said emergency services supervisor Dale Kronebusch, as attention is shifting away from swollen creeks and streams to the rapidly rising Okanagan Lake.
As of noon Thursday, the lake surface stood at 342.76 metres above sea level — 28 centimetres over the desired peak target and just 29 cm below the all-time high.
Kronebusch said forecasters are predicting the lake will reach 343 metres and, with wave action on top of that, it could have dire consequences for waterfront homes and infrastructure.
“It’s important that we all keep cool heads, stay calm and help out where we can,” he added.
Kronebusch also gave a rundown on other areas of concern that have emerged within the RDOS since torrential rains on May 4 kicked the spring freshet into action.
Cawston-Rural Oliver: Creeks running off both sides of Mount Kobau are being filled with extra water and debris as a result of the 2015 Testalinden Creek fire.
“A lot of the vegetation has been burned and some of it is semi-sterilized soil, so it takes awhile for those organics to get back in . . . to absorb some of the moisture, so a lot of (the water) is coming straight down,” Kronebusch said.
“We’re seeing a lot of trees and burned branches coming down as well, so that’s a clear sign that’s directly attributable to that fire.”
The water table is also higher than normal along the Okanagan River channel, causing flooding in some basements and crawl spaces.
Osoyoos: “In Osoyoos there’s basically localized flooding in different creeks and so on,” Kronebusch told the board, “because we are seeing creeks are running a little bit stronger and with more volumes.”
Okanagan Falls: “We’re seeing evidence of Shuttleworth Creek starting to rise. It sort of comes up and down and localized flooding is already happening there,” Kronebusch explained.
“Those are some of the areas where we see, typically, it does flood people’s basements and crawl spaces, so it’s not a lot out of the unusual in that neck of the woods.”
Naramata: “That’s been a real surprise for us this year. That’s where all the creeks went fairly high and fairly fast,” said Kronebusch.
“Chute Creek went to a point where it took out Chute Creek Road and the whole nine yards. We had some people that were there that had to shelter in place because they couldn’t get out.”
Six homes in the Indian Rock area were put on evacuation alert, while parts of the KVR Trail and Glenfir Road have been washed out.
Summerland: “Their two major creeks were actually running fairly rampant and coming out of the creek (bed), and they were starting to threaten properties and the town as well with large volumes of water being sent in that direction, so there’s been some remediation to try and keep that (water) in the creek and they were successful in doing that,” said Kronebusch.
There is also localized flooding in outlying areas, such as Faulder.
Twin Lakes: Area D director Tom Siddon took aim at Kronebusch for not initially mentioning Twin Lakes in his report.
The lakes are rising and expected to overcome a sewage lift station, which will force residents of six to eight homes to evacuate as early as today. Some residents believe water should have been pumped out of the lakes earlier this year, but the B.C. government wouldn’t allow it due to concerns downstream.
“There have been no provincial officials up there walking the territory as I did (Wednesday), nor I don’t think have you, yet people are being evacuated from their homes in the next 24 hours,” Siddon told Kronebusch.
“There are people writing letters today saying the RDOS, for permitting this subdivision where it is, should be held legally responsible for the cost of damage to people’s properties. All I’m saying is I don’t want it to be left out, and to this point it has been.”
Kronebusch replied that the matter of the lakes’ level is between residents’ strata council and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
“It’s not my place to say anything at this point, other than we will start evacuating those folks if need be,” said Kronebusch.