B.C. flood crews are bracing for even more water
Rivers expected to surge again by mid-week as snowpack melts
GRAND FORKS Residents and emergency crews are bracing for another surge of flood waters, after surveying damage in some of the worst-hit parts of B.C. during a reprieve over the weekend.
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary said about 3,000 residents remain under an evacuation order due to the ongoing threat of a second flood, with high forecast temperatures expected to melt snow at higher elevations.
Rivers are expected to rise by mid-week, reaching levels close to those experienced Thursday, the district said.
While it has downgraded 74 properties in Grand Forks’s downtown from evacuation orders to evacuation alerts, the regional district is urging property owners to keep sandbags in place and be prepared to leave again at a moment’s notice.
The public is reminded not to enter evacuation-order zones, even on boats, because of serious safety concerns.
The regional district said reentry plans for several neighbourhoods have been put on hold now that river modelling shows a second crest should reach levels similar to last week.
On Sunday, crews used digital assets, GIS technology and aerial surveys to quickly map damaged areas and compile data about flood impacts.
KELOWNA More than a year has passed since Colleen Gilmour and Thomas Scheffer moved into their condo on Ellison Lake, but it wasn’t until January that they could finally call it home.
Three days after the couple unloaded the moving truck on May 2, 2017, flood water came pouring into their living room and up through heating ducts, triggering an ordeal that lasted more than eight months after decision makers delayed the restoration process, they said.
With flood watchers warning that the worst may come this week and while some evacuated homeowners return to heartbreak, Gilmour and Scheffer are urging fellow British Columbians to protect their homes, but also brace for the aftermath should flooding come their way.
After the flood last year, the couple couldn’t find a hotel room and spent weeks in a time share before moving in with Gilmour’s mother in the condo above them during restoration.
Everything below waist level in their unit had been ruined: drywall, flooring, doors and kitchen cabinets were ripped out; the furnace and hot-water tank were replaced.
“It was just two-by-fours and cement,” Gilmour said.
“We even had huge damage on the ducts,” said Scheffer, a construction project manager.
“They had to chisel out a portion of the concrete slabs to replace all the affected ducts. Just a lot of work — but far too slow.”
Their strata solicited bids from restoration firms and through its insurer contracted Okanagan Restoration to restore multiple damaged units at the same time.
The couple received provincial disaster aid, Salvation Army food vouchers and support from the Red Cross while waiting to return to their home, but still had to pay condo fees of roughly $500 per month.
Scheffer said the decision-making process around restoration — led by strata, insurance adjusters, property managers and government — was far too slow.
Gilmour said she worries authorities aren’t effectively redesigning creeks and streams to prevent further devastation this year.
“If this is the new norm, they need to do something,” she said.
“People can’t go through this every year.”
Daylon Chmelyk, mitigation manager with property restoration firm Stutters DKI, said the 2017 flood season brought a surge in claims for restorers in the Okanagan.
He recommends affected homeowners start by contacting their insurers to find out about their flood coverage. Costs vary widely for restoration, but can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars and might take eight weeks for a single-family home, he said.
B.C. racked up $141 million in insured losses due to disaster last year, which included the worst flood season in history followed by a wildfire season that set a record for the most area burned.
Chmelyk said his industry is gearing up for another busy summer.
“We don’t hope for people to have floods. We just know they’re going to have them no matter what, so at least when we get there we can bring them a little bit of relief through this process,” he said.
“We want to be able to bring a little bit of regularity back to their lives and a calmness.”
When Chmelyk’s company gets the call, a crew heads to the property to perform a preliminary inspection and assessment.
Identifying safety hazards is critical — could someone be killed by damaged wiring or made sick by asbestos, lead or mould?
Restorers will then pump flood water out of the structure and gauge the damage.
Almost everything the water touches will need to be removed and what remains must be steamcleaned and disinfected.
If flood water is left, bacteria can spread and make people ill, Chmelyk said.
“That’s classified the same as sewage for contaminant risk,” he said. “That’s a thing people don’t commonly realize.”
After confirming contamination is mitigated, crews use fans to dry the structure before rebuilding begins.
Chmelyk urges homeowners who choose to do their own restoration to at least hire a professional to do a preliminary inspection, so they can identify potential mould problems that could creep up months later.
He recommends people who live near water be proactive by sandbagging their property and moving belongings from basements to higher ground or into rubber totes with lids.
In case they need to leave suddenly, they should keep their passport, valuables and medications somewhere easy to grab.