Local Community Advertising
The City of Kelowna is reminding waterfront property owners to have annual flood plans in place.
And for residents near creeks, it looks like the worst of it could be coming up quickly.
RDCO Emergency Coordinator Sanda Follack is most concerned about the next few days.
"The amount of rain that's coming in the next day or two could cause some issues," said Follack.
"And we are watching that closely."
There's a term for what could be coming our way.
"They call that a rain-on-snow event," she said.
With the warm weather, the snow in the hills is melting fast and now there is significant rain in the forecast as well.
“There is usually a small amount of flooding annually in several areas around Kelowna," said, Kelowna Utility Services Manager Kevin Van Vliet.
"If winter snowpacks melt too rapidly, and when there is heavy rain on melting snow, there is potential for high creek flows."
Officials are fairly confident that Mill Creek won't be a problem this year.
Thanks to a $55 million investment, they are now able to divert excess flows in Mill Creek over to Mission Creek.
"That is definitely helping with the lower Sutherland area," explained Follack.
She believes Mill Creek has reached its peak.
"Usually Mill Creek, in a normal freshet, comes high first," she said.
"Then Mission Creek starts to get affected."
In a news release issued today (Thursday) the City of Kelowna included a checklist for flood preparedness.
- Ensure you have a flood plan and are aware of the necessary steps to protect your particular property.
- Know where your power and water shut off is in your house and ensure your family’s important documents and identification are located on an upper floor and sealed in a plastic bag.
- Prepare a 72-hour kit for your family that includes food, water, a first-aid kit, identification, and medications.
- Have an evacuation plan, including arrangements for your pets.
A full kit list is available on the cordemergency.ca website.
KelownaNow will not be providing lake level and Mission Creek outflow numbers in a daily, updated story this year.
Instead, we will provide those numbers each morning in our daily newsletter and will write a weekly story on Mondays that sums up the lake level movement over the previous seven days.
Local Community Advertising