Canadian Army soldiers fill sandbags in the Green Bay neighbourhood of West Kelowna, Friday, May 17, 2018.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

WEST KELOWNA - With critical infrastructure at risk, West Kelowna has taken over the shoreline sandbagging of Green Bay on Okanagan Lake, a task normally left to individual property owners during a flood.

“In Green Bay, we’ve determined the entire community needs protection,” City of West Kelowna parks manager Stacey Harding said.

At risk are sewer lifts as well as power and water lines, Harding said.

“If we left it up to the residents and they didn’t do it properly we could lose some of those things. In the absence of those, we would have to evacuate the residents.”

Harding is supervising 45 Canadian soldiers, a dozen city workers and a crew of contractors working offsite all filling sandbags.

Once they have enough, Harding said the crews would begin building sandbag walls using lessons learned from last year’s floods.

“Some areas didn’t see water, in some cases we built the walls too high or too low,” Harding said, adding that crews would also deploy sand-filled tote bags, gabions and a sheet pile wall to hold back the rising water.

Once protection measures are complete, Harding said his crews would move next to Casa Loma, Pritchard and then Gellatly Bay, the lowest areas within West Kelowna.

He wasn’t sure if the military would be helping in those areas, but welcomed their efforts in Green Bay.

“We’re just glad to have them,” he said.

Even though they’ve been relieved of responsibility for sandbagging, Harding said they welcome the help of those property owners and residents who do join in the flood protection efforts.

“We welcome any help we can get, as long as they’re not getting in the way of the crews,” he said.

Green Bay resident Terry Balfour (left) and his son-in-law Jodie Lapointe fill sandbags at a community sand pile in West Kelowna, May 18, 2018

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

At least one local resident wasn’t waiting around for help, although he suspected that’s why none of his neighbours were filling sandbags alongside him at a community sand pile.

“I think they might be waiting for the army boys to do it,” Terry Balfour said, as he and son-in-law Jodie Lapointe methodically filled burlap bags and dropped them into his pickup.

Like the city, Balfour said he had learned a lot from last year’s flood when he not only built a sandbag wall halfway up his lawn but also bagged the backside of his house because of the threat of flooding from the canal across the street.

“This year, we’re building it right on the shoreline,” Balfour said. He had already weighed down his dock with a dozen or so sand-filled garbage cans but wasn’t going to bother with the canal side.

Last year’s flood cost him five trees and half his lawn, which he replaced.

“The grandkids love to play on the lawn,” he said.

He’s already thinking ahead to next year and the idea of annual flooding as the “new normal.”

“We’re not going to move. How would I replace this?” he said, gesturing to the placid, sheltered waters of Green Bay.

Instead, Balfour plans to buy his own water dam, which can be drained each year and stored away.

“You can’t get one right now but maybe I’ll buy one in the offseason."

Okanagan Lake is expected to reach full pool, 342.48 metres above sea level, sometime today, May 18, with a warning from the provincial government the lake is likely to reach at least 343 metres, just 25 centimetres below last year’s record flood level.

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