Damage at West Kelowna Yacht Club likely 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Damage at West Kelowna Yacht Club likely 'hundreds of thousands of dollars'

Boats and docks were damaged in the windstorm.

WEST KELOWNA - It appears wind damage at the West Kelowna Yacht Club is as bad as first feared.

While the members are still waiting to get official inspections from divers to assess the damage to the breakwall from a bizarre windstorm Tuesday, Nov. 17, spokesperson Pat Pope says it’s pretty much a write-off.

“We are just not sure yet what the damage is going to be,” he says. “But we are into the hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Three-foot high waves crashed into the breakwall with enough force to damage a piling and once one break, the others likely went like dominoes, he says. Without the breakwall, the boats in the marina tossed in the waves, as did the docks.

More than 20 boats sustained some kind of damage; some written off entirely. One boat broke free of its moorings and crashed against docks on the other side of the bay. Many of the boats are still there but some snowbird owners aren’t even aware of the damage yet, he says

Luckily the yacht club has insurance that should cover much of the damage, and every member of the club must have insurance on their boats as well.

The clubhouse itself, the Pendozi, was not damaged.

Pope calls the storm a "freak of nature" because they’ve never seen waves like that on the lake before. The winds came from the south which is also unusual, he says.

He says it will take time to inspect the damage and nail down a plan to rebuild the protective wall.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Marshall Jones at mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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