Officials in Similkameen brace for river’s rise

Flood-related news came fast and furious Tuesday — but thankfully the floodwaters didn’t.

No new evacuation orders or alerts had been issued or were pending as of 4 p.m., according to Zoe Kirk, an information officer in the emergency operations centre run by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.

“Right now what we’re doing is we’re gearing up for what’s going to happen when the Similkameen River starts rising again,” she said.

That impending rise led the Okanagan Similkameen School District to cancel bus service to Hedley effective today, for fear the river will wash out Highway 3.

Students then would have been “in a position of being evacuees and be dropped off at emergency operations centres without supervision or accompaniment of their parents. This (would) only complicate the relief efforts of the RDOS,” superintendent Bev Young wrote in a letter that was sent home with kids.

Interior Health also took the precautionary measure of voluntarily evacuating the 36 residents of Orchard Haven residential care home in Keremeos, which is also at risk of flooding from the Similkameen River.

Eleven residents were returned to family in the area, while the other 25 were sent to other facilities.

More patient transfers are possible.

“We will continue monitoring the situation in the South Okanagan and if any other area is identified as being at risk, we will consider the need for potential relocation at that time,” Interior Health spokeswoman Lannea Parfitt said in an email.

Meanwhile, the Penticton Indian Band declared a local state of emergency on its two reserves due to the rising levels of Ellis and Shingle creeks. The declaration covers the gated community of Red Wing on Okanagan Lake.

And the City of Penticton issued a bulletin of its own, warning property owners on Lakeshore Drive who had water troubles last year to put precautionary measures in place again this year.

It also noted work is expected to begin today to install tiger dams, gabion baskets, rip-rap and sandbags across the Okanagan Lake waterfront from the SS Sicamous to the marina in order to protect city infrastructure.

The city noted it has been advised to prepare for the lake level, which stood at 342.32 metres above sea level as of noon Tuesday, to reach 343 m by May 26.

Should it reach 343 m, that would put the lake 52 centimetres above full pool and just 27 cm below the record-high mark hit last year on June 8.