A helicopter hovers above Deep Creek in Hardy Falls Regional Park in Peachland, Thursday, April 11, 2019, as it lowers a prefabricated wooden bridge.
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
April 11, 2019 - 12:55 PM
KELOWNA - Wildcat Helicopters dropped into Peachland today to begin the work to reopen the walkway that was wiped out by flooding two years ago.
Two of the eight bridges in Hardy Falls Regional Park were severely damaged by flood waters in the spring of 2017 and the park has been closed since then.
The pieces to two prefabricated bridges were airlifted in eight trips by helicopter today, April 11, from a vacant lot next to Highway 97 across from Antlers Beach. The wooden bridges will have a higher clearance above Deep Creek to protect them from future flooding.
The drops included decking and bridge structures that will be assembled by ground crews over the next few weeks, with the hopes of reopening the park in early May, Central Okanagan Regional District communications officer Bruce Smith said.
The bridges were designed by New Brunswick based Advanced Research and Development Canada, built in its Oregon plant, disassembled and shipped to Peachland.
The work was funded by a $48,400 grant from the provincial disaster assistance program.
A crew works to release a wooden bridge airlifted into Hardy Falls Regional Park, Thursday, April 11, 2019.
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
Hardy Falls can be seen in the background as a helicopter airlifts a prefabricated wooden bridge, Thursday, April 11, 2019.
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
A helicopter airlifts a wooden prefabricated bridge in Hardy Falls Provincial Park, Thursday, April 11, 2019.
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019