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May of 2017 saw some unfortunate tragedies and struggles.
On the first of the month, the mother of a Kelowna woman reached out in hopes of finding her daughter, who went missing while traveling in Peru.
Julie Anna Baker was 37-years-old at the time of her disappearance. Her mother, Lynne Currie-Tickell said that she was last seen in Lima, Peru two weeks before, but she could have also gone to Brazil, Costa Rica, Panamá, Ecuador, Colombia, or Thailand..
On May 1, 2017, her mother reported that her daughters Facebook account had been mysteriously deleted, and she had not heard from her daughter in weeks.
Kelowna was underwater for the month of May as well, as we experienced the worst flooding the region has ever seen. Flooding would be a hot topic in the Okanagan for months to follow.
On May 4, 2017, a storm rolled into the Okanagan that brought with it so much rain that Mill Creek spilled its banks and flooded nearby homes and businesses.
For weeks on end, emergency responders were kept busy dealing with what was a catastrophic event.
A state of emergency was declared on May 6, 2017, by the Regional District of the Okanagan due to the flooding from various creeks spilling their banks in the Central Okanagan. A number of evacuation orders, alerts, and road closures resulted, but Kelowna came together like the great community we are.
The Okanagan was battered by windstorms in May as well, which significantly worsened the flooding situation. Barriers set up to guard against rising lake levels got a true test as waves crashed against and over them.
The flooding caused immense damage to many properties and livelihoods in Kelowna, but the community was able to band together. As water levels creeped up more and more, residents could be seen wading through knee deep waters to pitch in wherever they could to try and prevent and clean up as much of the damage as possible.
Towards the end of the month, a popular music festival in B.C. hit fans with some heavy and disappointing news.
Organizers of the Pemberton Music Festival filed for bankruptcy and cancelled the 2017 festival on May 18, 2017. The festival deleted all of their social media channels the same day, and fans were left to wonder if they would be able to get refunds for their tickets.
Stay tuned for more of KelownaNow’s Year in Review! June will be featured in tomorrow’s story.
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