Westside cleanup to cost $5.2M

Cleanup and repair costs associated with flooding in West Kelowna earlier this year have been put at $5.2 million.

Local taxpayers will be on the hook for 20 per cent of the total, or just over $1 million.

The list of 45 flood recovery projects includes fixing buckled pavement, rebuilding failed waterfront retaining walls, unclogging stormwater pipes and dredging silt and other debris from creeks to protect bridges.

“Two city creeks, Powers and Smith, have had a considerable amount of (sediment) in the lower reaches, which has reduced the water holding capacity and increased the potential for a reoccurrence with even normal flows next year,” reads part of a staff report going to city council Tuesday.

“This potentially puts city infrastructure, mainly bridges, at risk and helps form the priority of works needed and the time window to complete it,” the report states.

Immediate flood response costs — for such things as sandbagging — are fully covered by the provincial government. Victoria also covers 80 per cent of after-flood recovery costs, those required for repairing damaged infrastructure.

About one-third of the identified projects have already been approved by the provincial government, with most of the rest requiring some followup engineering or environmental assessment. Okanagan Lake peaked in mid-June at 343.25 metres above sea level, an all-time high.