Although the level of Okanagan Lake and Kalamalka Lake continue to drop, local emergency officials warn against removing sandbags.
(JENNA HICKMAN / iNFOnews.ca)
June 19, 2017 - 1:00 PM
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - Although lake levels continue to decrease, some residents will have to wait a little longer before removing flood protection.
As of Sunday, June 18, Okanagan Lake was at 343.191 metres above sea level, down 5.6 centimetres from a week ago, according to a Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre media release. However, it is still 71 centimetres above normal level for this time of year.
At a current level of 392.367 metres, Kalmalka Lake is also down five centimetres from the week before.
Jason Luciw with Emergency Operations says a plan for flood restoration should be released in the coming days.
“We’ve been working on finalizing a plan daily, but we don’t want to rush things,” he says. “Okanagan Lake is still around 70 centimetres above where it should be, so we don’t want to create a false start to restoration when there’s still a risk.”
However, Luciw says crews will be working to remove sandbags on Burne Avenue and other areas east of Pandosy and Richter today, June 19. They will also be removing sandbags in some areas downtown if time allows.
There are close to two million sandbags in place in the Central Okanagan, and according the Emergency Operations, that equals about 1,500 truckloads of sand or 23 kilometres of sandbags.
For the very latest information go to the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre website.
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