Okanagan Lake and creeks across Kelowna continue to rise. Central Okanagan Regional Emergency Program coordinator Sandra Follack says residents should keep a close watch over the next 24 hours. “We have a little bit of a concern. We are not as concerned as some of the north and south are. Our creeks seem to be managing the water flow as much as it can with the recent repairs we have done in the last couple of years.” “The lake is coming up to full pool so that does give us some concerns and some of our area residences have to do certain things when we do get to full pool and we would like to remind people to stay away from rivers and from streams,” Follack said. Follack says her biggest concern is the creekbeds. “Getting too much water from a heavy rain storm. The river water management of the gates allows for the lake to sit at full pool and not affect the residents. We do have people in the low-lying flood areas that do flood anyway and they should be looking at potentially sandbagging if we get some more rainfall or just keeping an eye on it.” CORD believes this year will not be a repeat of the intense flooding seen across the Interior in 2017 and 2018. “In 2017/18 we had significant flooding. We have done quite a bit of mitigation work and repairing for the creeks and the foreshore and the way that we manage water in and out so the type of flooding we had back in 2017 would not occur again,” Follack said. Residents interested in sandbagging can pick up empty sandbags available at the Kelowna fire hall. As a precautionary measure the City of West Kelowna says crews are coordinating the delivery of sand and sandbags throughout the week of June 13 to waterfront locations. Although lake levels seem unlikely to surpass flood levels, lakefront properties may wish to protect their infrastructure affected by wave action from storms and boats. Staff will monitor and replenish stockpiles as needed at the following locations:
Fire Station No. 33, 1805 Westlake Road Casa Loma Beach, 2606 Casa Loma Road Falcon Park, adjacent to 1339 Green Bay Road Sternwheeler Park, adjacent to 1649 Pritchard Drive
“The rain should stop on Tuesday or Wednesday so our main concern right now is a significant rainfall in the next 24 hours would be a bit of a concern, but after that, we should be fine,” Follack added.
