Lake still rising, but not so quickly

Okanagan Lake is now rising at a much slower level than it has in previous weeks, giving officials hope the end of the flooding saga is near.

The lake rose one millimetre from Thursday to Friday morning, up to 343.25 metres above sea level.

“What we’re talking about now is lake level increases in terms of millimetres instead of centimetres,” said Jason Luciw, public information officer with the Central Okanagan emergency operation centre.

“That’s definitely going in the right direction, but we’d like to see that start going into the downward trend territory. We want the lake to start going down, and we’re almost there.”

In the next seven to 10 days, Okanagan Lake is expected to level off, said Luciw.

“We’re still keeping our flood protection measures in place, and we will need property owners to keep their protective measures in place.”

Officials are beginning to plan for the recovery period, including when to remove all the sandbags, dams and other flood protection measures in place across the region.

“We need to start thinking about what happens with all the protective measures that are out there and when they can start being removed, and when we can start advising people to remove theirs,” said Luciw. “We want life to start getting back to normal, and we want people to start getting back to the parks and beaches, (but) that can’t happen yet.”

Currently, the biggest concern is the potential for wind and waves, said Luciw.

“The lake is at what I would call historical levels . . . and with the lake still being that high, and the potential for wind and wave action still there, that can easily compromise some of the protection measures we have in place.”

People are still encouraged to not go out boating on the lakes or to keep waves to a minimum to avoid causing more damage.

“Let’s give the lake the time it needs to decrease, then in the next several weeks we can talk about returning to normal summer lake activities,” said Luciw. “We’re not here to ruin people’s summer; we’re here to protect property.”

Snowpack at high elevations above Mission Creek is below 30 per cent.

“As long as we don’t get that deluge of rain, we’re hopeful that we could be coming into the other side of this fairly quickly here,” said Luciw. “Let’s hope Mother Nature stops throwing us curveballs, and we can start talking about recovery instead of prevention.”

The Regional District of Central Okanagan will be closing a half kilometre of a shoreline trail in Kalamoir Regional Park Sunday morning.

Fences will go up on the waterfront trail, just north of the main Collens Hill Road beach area and near the north dog beach at the entrance to the Upper Rim Trail.

Park users will be able to use a detour along an unnamed trail that connects with the Upper Rim Trail.

Cyclists may also choose to use Collens Road as an alternate connection to the Upper Rim Trail.

Parks that are currently closed due to flooding include Okanagan Centre Safe Harbour Regional Park; Glen Canyon Regional Park from the Acorn bridge down to the Gellatly Road parking area and from the Const. Neil Bruce entrance up to the Covington Crescent entrance at Last Mountain Community Park; Hardy Falls Regional Park; Mill Creek Regional Park; Fintry Community Park boat launch; Killiney Beach Community Park. Anyone found within a closed park can be fined $500.