Mill Creek to be dredged to ease flooding worries
Lake Avenue Park, bridge to be closed 4 weeks
As the snowpack melts and waters rise, the mouth of Mill Creek will be dredged so it doesn't spill its banks.
Lake Avenue Park, the green space and beach where Mill Creek flows into Okanagan Lake, is being used as the staging area for City of Kelowna equipment and crews.
"The dredging will get the silt and gravel that's clogging the creek out," said city communications manager Tom Wilson.
"That way, the creek will have the capacity when the snow melts and there's increased flow into the lake."
The dredging means the park, along with the pedestrian bridge over Mill Creek and the adjacent parking lot will be closed for four weeks.
The nearby tunnel into City Park will remain open.
Signs will be posted to re-route cyclists and pedestrians around the closures.
Dredging helps clear clogged waterways to increase capacity, improve flow and avoid flooding.
Dredging begins today at the mouth of the creek and over the next month will work its way back a block to Abbott Street.
Some vegetation in and around Mill Creek will also be removed to improve flow.
As well, sandbags and bladder dams will be set up along risky stretches of Mill Creek as flood prevention.
If properties along creeks and the lake are in danger of flooding, the city will notify residents and provide sandbags.
Gravel is also being removed from Bellevue Creek.
In all, the city is doing $10.7 million worth of work on 52 locations that required repairs after last spring's flooding.
The city is closely monitoring the weather because rising temperatures will determine how fast the snow on surrounding mountains melt.
That melt feeds into the network of streams and creeks that flow into Okanagan Lake.
Add rain to the mix and streams and creeks can overflow and the lake level can rise quickly.
Right now, the spring runoff is expected in three weeks.
That's when warmer weather arrives, melting snow and pushing the resulting water into streams, creeks and eventually the lake.
Last year's flooding was the result of a rapid rise in temperatures causing massive melt followed by rain.