City contractors were cleaning an abandoned camp Tuesday afternoon, May 9, as it became water-logged by the rising Thompson River.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The Thompson Rivers are picking up snow melt and rising quickly in Kamloops, putting pressure on campers and the City to keep tents, propane tanks and tarps from floating downstream.

Camps on the north and south shores are already about to be washed away, but local bylaw officers have been reluctant to force anyone off the riverbanks.

How many camps are in the river's path is anyone's guess, but it doesn't take long to find a half dozen near Overlander or Riverside parks.

City contractors were cleaning up one water-logged camp under Overlanders Bridge on Tuesday afternoon. It's one of many they've cleaned in recent days and they expect the calls to keep coming.

"There's more than last year for sure," the contractor said as he waded through the water, raking up remnants of the camp.

Schmidty's Haul-Away is contracted by the City to deal with illegal dumping calls, but increasingly respond to camps along the river. The employee, Brandon, said their crew has gotten to know campers along the banks and warn them to move up as the water rises. It's not always successful.

"It's hard when you watch stuff float down the river," he said, dismayed at the tents and belongings in camps that float toward Kamloops Lake in the spring freshet.

Bylaw officers haven't been actively evicting homeless people from riverbanks, but advise people to keep their camps clean and easy to remove, while encouraging them to use shelters.

The river is creeping close to some Kamloops camps as the snow melt rushes into the region this spring.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

One man camping on the North Shore told iNFOnews.ca he'd rather sleep in his tent than stay at any of the local shelters.

Jimmy lives in a camp near Overlanders Bridge and spent the day moving his tent further from the rising rivers. He woke up to water at the foot of his tent on Tuesday, May 9.

"If I'm going to get my stuff stolen, I'd rather it on the street than in shelter," he said, while organizing his camp alongside his daughter and two friends.

He doesn't have many belongings to protect since his camp burned down earlier this year, he said. Jimmy isn't sure where, but he plans to find a new place to camp before the river washes up too high.

Jimmy's camp was one of two that were still dry within 50 metres of Overlanders Bridge. Four are just a few feet from the water on the south side of the bridge. Abandoned clothes and filled garbage bags are water-logged and caught within shrubs between Riverside Park and the bridge.

Acting community services manager Will Beatty said there are no plans to move local homeless campers into a specified area, but he said he's looked at Kelowna's approach with interest.

In the Okanagan's largest city, homeless people living in tents are directed to a small area on the north end of the city. A small fenced area is an overcrowded tent city originally intended to be temporary. 

With between 60 and 100 people camping overnight, it centralizes some of the homeless population into a designated area as the City tries to deter camps within its other parks.

For now, bylaw officers (or Community Service Officers) have been patrolling and tracking camps, specifically to deter fires in the wake of a hillside blaze that spread across Strathcona Park last month.

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