Washed out roads and watery basements: Okanagan residents brace for more floods

Rivers and creeks continue to swell acrossB.C. asemergency officialswarnflooding conditions could worsen next week.

As of Thursday, 12 evacuation orders and 11 evacuation alerts were in place across the province.

In the small recreational community of Tulameen, about 26 kilometres northwest of the town of Princeton, residents have been asked to be ready to leave on short notice.

Evacuation orders

The local fire department has been working to drainwater that has seeped intobackyards, crawl spaces anddamaged basements.

The area has been under a state of emergency since Sunday, when 148 homeowners were told to evacuate. Residents in 15 of those properties are still unable to go home.

Fire Chief JodyWoodfordsays the community floods each spring,but this year, the large snow packwhich is 150 per cent above normal makes it difficult to predict what's next.

"And we haven't even started with the spring melt," saidWoodford.

Woodford pointedto the public beach area, where the parking lot is flooded.

"You can't see the picnic tables because they're all underneath the water," saidWoodford.

Aerial footage capturedby the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen showsthe extent of the floods in the area.

Drone footage shows flooding in Tulameen, B.C.

6 years ago

Duration 0:48

A local state of emergency was declared on April 29 , 2018 for the community, northwest of Princeton.

B.C. wildfire fighters spent two days fillingup gabion baskets large metal cages filled with sand while emergency officials set up aqua dams water-filled tubeswhich create barriers to keep back Otter Lake.

Residents say it's the first time they've received outside help.

'Now we're back in this situation'

In the small rural subdivision of Willowbrook, north of Oliver, residents have been feeling the aftermath of rising groundwater for some time.

A state of emergency was declared in late March following record high ground water elevations in this tranquilcommunity, where the soundof birds fills the air.

More than 25,000 sandbags line astream of water that runs alongside arow ofhouses.

Parts of the road have been dug up to make room for the water to escape, forcingsome property owners to access their homes by foot via makeshift bridge crossings.

Some pastures in the area areflooded and filled with horse manure, forcing someresidents to askneighbours for a place to keep their horses.

For the past two weeks,Michelle Weisheit's family of four has been living in aneighbour's basement.

"We've no running water at our house right now. We can't use our septic," Wesheitsaid.Their own basementflooded for the second year in a row.

She said floodingcould havebeen avoided, adding community members asked the province months ago to add and replace culverts.

Although a Ministry of Transportation report said larger culverts would be beneficial, this year's frozen ground conditions, followed by heavy early rainfall and subsequent runoff didn't allow the installations to be made.

"Nothing was done even though we urged them. Now we are back in this situation, that is what is the most upsetting," said Weisheit.

'Never seen it like this'

Further downstream from Willowbook, a flooded two-lane road has become a site to behold for local residents.

Gail Blidook grew up in the area."It's very unusual. I've never seen it like this before," she said.

She and other residents come by SportmensBowl Road just off highway 97 to gauge how to best protect their own home.

People living in 17 properties have been ordered to evacuate.

In late April, the province temporarily closed Highway 97, so crews could install culverts in order to keep the water from crossing over to the highway.

Kelownaresidents on edge

InKelowna, where floods hit last spring, emergency officials are busy preparing.

Residents like Andre Borak and his neighbours, who are still feeling the pain of damaged basements, remain nervous.

"Everybody was flooded. So people are nervous right now, they are on edge," said Borak.

"Some people have already taken the precaution and pulled everything up. Some people have unfinished basements, so it's not a big dealbut our neighbours next door just moved in and just renovated, so they're quite nervous."