Fight against floodwaters taking its toll on residents
South Okanagan property owners tire of weeks of sandbagging, flooding, but help has arrived
If that had been allowed to crest and erode and wash away, it would have been millions of gallons of water that would have washed into Willowbrook and actually wiped it out for the most part.
Terry Schafer
Record-high water levels in the South Okanagan have property owners in three communities feeling fatigued and frustrated, but reinforcements have now arrived on the scene to help.
High above the Willowbrook rural area west of Oliver, a team from the B.C. government decommissioned a private dam Monday, while BC Wildfire crews landed Sunday to help exhausted residents, who have been under a state of local emergency for three weeks, shore up defences on their properties below.
Terry Schafer, the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen director for Area C (rural Oliver), said the consequences would have been dire had the dam not been drained.
“If that had been allowed to crest and erode and wash away, it would have been millions of gallons of water that would have washed into Willowbrook and actually wiped it out for the most part,” Schafer said.
“It’s kind of a bitter pill to swallow for the residents. A lot of them are flooded now because of the pumping of the dam.”
Multiple pumps were working Monday, ejecting 21,000 litres of water per minute out of the reservoir.
The displaced water is now adding to the problems in the Sportsmens Bowl Road area just north of Oliver, where an evacuation alert was issued last week for 16 homes.
Fatigued from the non-stop fight, resident Gladys Morin called in some friends to help with sandbagging Monday.
She’s lived on the property since she was 12 and has never seen such flood conditions.
“Last year was high, but not like this,” Morin said. “Sandbagging . . . we’ve been doing three weeks. It’s brutal — hard on the back.”
Neighbour Brenda Walls was keeping spirits high, but both women worried about what’s yet to come.
“This is all we can do. I’ve never seen it like this. It’s worse than yesterday, and with the rains it just keeps coming,” Walls said.
A third area of concern is Green Lake, where an evacuation alert was issued last week for 16 homes threatened by the rising lake, which the RDOS began pumping down Monday.
“That could have crested and actually created a new river which would have affected homes down below,” said Cameron Baughen, an information officer in the Emergency Operations Centre that’s been established by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
“We’ve been ordered to maintain that. All other creeks and dams have been maintained by either the owners or the property owners of those areas.”
Green Lake Road resident Francois Hugo was also doing his part Monday, working to clear access to his home.
“The main thing we’re kind of struggling with now is the water coming down. For us, it’s more just our access road, trying not to get washed away,” Hugo said.
“I know there’s people farther down in Willowbrook affected way more, having to evacuate their houses. In that regard, we’re kind of fortunate — we haven’t been affected that badly.”
Hugo, originally from Africa, moved to the Green Lake Road area around a year ago.
“This is new to me. I’ve always wanted to come and do the country living, so I guess this is it,” Hugo said.
Christy Bibby, resident and owner of nearby Nighthawk Vineyards, noted she has not gotten the worst of the flooding, but the extent of the damage will be unclear until it’s all over.
“The lake in my yard is not fabulous, (but) RDOS has been really communicative, which has been nice, so at least we know what’s going on,” Bibby said.
She said her business has not seen much of an effect from the flooding, but until the rain and snowmelt come through she’s not sure about the scope of the damage.
“Other people have had it a little harder than me,” she added, motioning to a neighbour lower down the hill who has relocated to Penticton for the time being.
Bibby has, however, resigned herself to losing a low-lying part of her vineyard.
“It has been underwater for months, so there’s root rot. It’s a pretty big hit,” she said.
For those looking to pick up sandbags or get any more information regarding flooding in the RDOS area, call 250-490-4225.