Princess Margaret students help out with sandbagging
Princess Margaret students help fill, place sandbags
Cutting class has rarely been so rewarding. Hundreds of students from Princess Margaret Secondary School are learning about good citizenship this week by volunteering a few hours of their day helping with community flood protection.
On Tuesday morning, 80 students took a field trip to the Penticton Yacht Club, where they filled and placed sandbags, while another 50 ventured to Fire Hall No. 2 to make up sandbags for use elsewhere in the community.
“It’s hard work — I’ll give it that — but it’s rewarding,” said Grade 10 student Kevin Styba-Nelson during a break from the action in what would have been his science class.
Styba-Nelson helped music teacher Don Grant organize the work parties by arranging free transportation courtesy of Berry & Smith Trucking, handing out permission slips and drawing up schedules.
“I’d say a few people are a little reluctant, but a lot of people are working hard, they’re really happy to help out,” he said.
Grant, who’s a member of the yacht club, was unsure how many students are participating, but he said the school is supplying a total of 750 hours of volunteer time this week.
“I care about this part of the lake and I thought I could come down (as a club member) and volunteer my eight hours,” he explained, “but I thought I might be able to make a bigger impact if I involved my school, and I can’t believe how the teachers and staff and kids just jumped into it.”
Yacht club fleet captain Bruce Merit said one of the first jobs the students tackled was placing sandbags to reinforce a portable dam that’s preventing Okanagan Lake from spilling past the marina boat launch.
“That was 80 feet that got bagged in a matter of three hours, so that was fantastic,” he said.
Thousands of sandbags have been stacked around three sides of the group’s clubhouse — which would be flooded without them — while pumps have been set up to drain any water that does make it past the defences.
“So far, the ducks have been lined up on our side,” said Merit, “but a big, strong wind could make matters change overnight.”
Okanagan Lake was hovering at 343.12 metres above sea level as of noon Tuesday, according to Environment Canada data. That’s 64 centimetres above the peak target set by the B.C. government.
The latest forecast released last weekend by the City of Penticton estimated the lake could go as high as 343.15 metres.
Meanwhile, six homes in Olalla were placed under an evacuation order Tuesday by the Regional District of O kan ag an Sim ilka me en, which also issued a state of local emergency due to the rising level of Keremeos Creek. Eleven other homes nearby were placed on evacuation alert.
Evacuation alerts remain in place for 39 properties south of Oliver and nine in Twin Lakes.