Osoyoos Lake has now fallen below 915 feet above sea level, reaching its lowest level since May 9.
With Osoyoos Lake now going down, but Okanagan Lake still rising, the provincial operators of the dam in Penticton have resumed normal water releases into the Okanagan River.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning the Town of Osoyoos rescinded evacuation orders affecting 15 properties, all on Solana Key Drive. Evacuation alerts were lifted on another 80 homes.
The town issued a bulletin Thursday evening saying it is actively assessing properties to see if evacuated residents can return home.
“There is a formal process that must be followed and you will be advised as to when you may return home,” the town said. “All sandbags should remain in place until further notice. A plan is currently being established for the removal and disposal of sandbags once conditions exist where there is no longer a threat of flooding.”
Osoyoos Lake was at 914.94 feet above sea level as of 9 a.m. Friday. That’s down from a high of 916.45 feet reached on May 12 – a drop of a foot and a half.
The fall is largely due to a greatly reduced flow on the Similkameen River, which was at 17,500 cubic feet per second (cfs) as of 9 a.m. Friday. That’s down from a high of 32,300 on May 10.
During the recent flooding of Osoyoos Lake, an estimated 60 per cent of the water entering the lake from the Okanagan River came from tributaries between Penticton and Osoyoos. Only about 40 per cent of the inflow came from the dam where water leaves Okanagan Lake.
With lower elevation snow now mostly melted, those tributaries have gone down considerably.
Shaun Reimer, the provincial official who oversees the dam at Penticton, said normal releases of water at the dam resumed recently. Water was held back earlier this month to reduce the impact down river.
Reimer said Okanagan Lake was recently rising at a rate of three centimetres a day, but it has slowed to two centimetres. Okanagan Lake was at 342.63 metres above sea level as of Thursday afternoon, and local officials have been warned to prepare for a high of 343 metres.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
