Shuttleworth Creek changed over time

Dear Editor: It goes without saying that this has been an extraordinary year with all the serious flooding in Southern B.C.

Checking and monitoring and cleaning the thousands of creeks and streams that funnel the melting snow through smaller communities would be a monstrous task at best.

Shuttleworth Creek runs through Okanagan Falls, and for the past 12 years, we have watched this creek change; from having an almost flat bed to one of many ‘islands of rocks’, saplings taking root, downed trees, and debris which has resulted in many small dams being created. We have been told that the creek is under the jurisdiction of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen and, as such, nothing could be altered without their permission.

Last week, Shuttleworth Creek breached it’s southern wall and resulted in the flooding and evacuation of 54 residences in and around 14th Avenue in Okanagan Falls.

We live in the mobile home park on the northern side of the creek and we also came very close to flooding.

Fortunately for us, measures were taken to ensure that our park, and surrounding properties, didn’t suffer the same misfortune.

We want thank all those involved (RDOS, Department of Fisheries and any others) for authorizing the clean up, and fortification, of Shuttleworth Creek to spare our park, the neighbouring farm and homes close to the creek from a potential further disaster.

A special thank you to Barry Noll and his crew from Warren Lee Contracting in Penticton for doing an awesome job on clearing out the debris and dredging the bottom of the creek, making it deeper and wider, and using those rocks to fortify the sides of the berm and the clearing out of many of the trees which has also made a marked improvement.

Robert & Colleen Levesque

Okanagan Falls