By Lyonel Doherty
Better drainage and better communication is what local flood victims want from the powers that be.
That was clear at Wednesday night’s public meeting in the Oliver Community Centre.
Numerous residents and farmers voiced their concern about this year’s extreme flooding that negatively impacted their lives and businesses.
Shaun Reimer from the Ministry of Forests, who manages Okanagan Lake water levels, said early snowpack monitoring this year did not indicate that flooding was expected. And then they received unrelenting precipitation.
“We’ve never seen the intensity of inflows that we had . . . 69 centimetres in five weeks, we’ve never seen that in our history of Okanagan Lake.”
Reimer said a lot of people claimed the ministry put the safety of fish above flood protection. But that’s not true, he stated, noting that fishery guidelines are overridden if floods are suspected.
“We did override fishery guidelines, we opened the gates to let more water out,” Reimer said.
He pointed out that the ministry is reviewing this year’s flood response and Okanagan Lake management decisions.
Mark Woods, who oversees the emergency management program for the regional district, said they were hit by a “slow moving freight train of water.” But staff were quick to set up emergency centres and responded to the flooding on an hour-by-hour basis.
Anna Warwick Sears from the Okanagan Basin Water Board said weather experts are warning people to expect more wet and dry years.
“Summers will be dryer and hotter, and we’re more likely to have extreme rain events.”
Sears said they are trying to get the Okanagan better prepared for these impacts by utilizing high-tech radar equipment (flood mapping) to predict what areas will flood.
“It’s a big priority for us.”
But Norm Gaumont of the Vaseux Lake Stewardship group, expressed his concern that water levels were “painfully slow” to recede, even when Okanagan Lake was at full pool.
He noted that homeowners around the lake lost three to five feet of property due to erosion, adding that the sandbags were even disintegrating.
Gaumont asked why wasn’t their lake level taken down more quickly, adding that communication from government was lacking.
Reimer said officials can’t tell residents what they don’t know, but admitted they need to improve the communication process.
Gordon Kirby, who lives on Road 9, said residents in this area deserved a better response than what they got.
He explained that Reed, Togo and Tinhorn Creeks try to find their way to Okanagan River, resulting in flooding and the creation of a large lake in the Road 6, 9 and 10 area, all of which is productive farmland.
Kirby suggested that pumping should begin much sooner, noting it happened far too late this year.
He also recommended rerouting the creek to below Road 9 bridge to prevent any backup and to allow the free flow of water into the river.
Reimer agreed there are drainage issues, noting a plan is needed to address them.
Woods said the district, with the help of its agency partners, will look at this specific problem south of Oliver.
Bill Eggert from Fairview Cellars called for an enquiry on how the 2015 Testalinda wildfire was handled and what remediation became of it.
Eggert reported that he lost his intake during this year’s flooding and there was no official communication with him about remediation.
Eggert wanted everyone to know that the Ministry of Highways was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
Bill Koenig, a farmer on Road 6, said it is crucial that proper drainage occurs – moving water from Reed Creek into the river.
“If that could be dealt with – taking all the silt away – we could have drainage.”
Fairview area resident Bruce Hamilton wanted to know if officials are diligent in monitoring potential problem areas ahead of time.
Forester Ray Crampton said they conduct vehicle and helicopter patrols. “It’s a vast area; we cannot get it all.”
Oliver resident Gary Cook asked if anything was being done to dredge the river to bring the water down. He noted that ever since the river restoration project was undertaken, water levels have gone up.
Reimer stated there are no plans to dredge the river, but he said that Cook’s concerns would be investigated.
Woods said property owners negatively impacted by the floods can apply to the province for disaster relief.
Ray Hewitt, who lives south of Oliver, called for better communication from local officials.
“If we get another flood next year, we’ll lose acres of land,” he said.
Hewitt said he has seen people surveying property but nobody is communicating with landowners.
Ed Machial, whose property is in a flood plain, said he spent a lot of money pumping out water (for four months). He suspects there is a lot of silt in the area and the water can’t drain properly.
Machial pointed out that nature has its course, but man has affected it by water diversion and channelization projects.
“Development has outpaced common sense,” he said to applause.
Meanwhile, the flooding situation is still affecting Willowbrook resident Michelle Weisheit, who was forced to move into a trailer because she can’t get back into her house yet.
Donna Cooke, who lives in the Meyers Flat area, said backed-up culverts causing the flooding need to be fixed.
Area C director Terry Schafer said it will take time to get the necessary permits to dredge any creeks in the Willowbrook area.
Schafer noted that the silt problem south of Oliver will be a problem for years to come.
“Even if we don’t flood next year, we will have more mosquitos,” he said.
