Flooding on the Similkameen River is anticipated to worsen this week, according to regional district officials, who announced evacuation alerts for hundreds of Similkameen addresses this evening, May 13, 2018.
(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)
May 14, 2018 - 7:28 AM
PENTICTON - A forecast of high temperatures and the predicted onslaught of snowpack melt has led the regional district to issue a several evacuation alerts involving more than 950 addresses for Osoyoos Lake and the Similkameen this week.
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen said in a press release Sunday night, May 13, melt water from Manning Park and the Coquihalla is expected to push as much as several feet of additional water back into Osoyoos Lake.
A total of 53 properties in the Town of Osoyoos, one lakefront hotel and 17 properties in Electoral Area “A” have been evacuated so far.
Also last night, the Village of Keremeos issued a statement declaring 500 properties to be placed on evacuation alert due to anticipated increases in the flow of the Similkameen River.
The river is expected to peak Friday, May 18.
The regional district also placed 112 properties in the Similkameen River floodplain in Electoral Area “H” under evacuation alert on Sunday evening, as well as 330 properties in Electoral Area “G," and an additional 375 properties in Area "B."
See the regional district website for a breakdown of addresses affected by the evacuation alerts.
The regional district has distributed one million sandbags throughout the district to date.
A public information meeting will be held at the Osoyoos Sonora Centre at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15 with officials from the Town of Osoyoos, Province of B.C, and the regional district.
— This story was updated at 10 a.m. Monday, May 14, 2018 to provide additional information on an evacuation alert issued for Electoral Area "B."
To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 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, 2018