The City of West Kelowna will be installing flood mitigation measures along West Kelowna’s waterfront to protect public infrastructure from an anticipated rise of the Okanagan Lake level. Property owners who were impacted by last year’s lake flooding should install protection to the same level as last year in an abundance of caution.
The City has prioritized key public infrastructure that could be impacted if Okanagan Lake rises to the same level as last year and will begin installing protection immediately. One of the top priority areas in West Kelowna is Green Bay and crews will begin installing a dam at the canal entrance in an effort to keep rising water from damaging sewer, water service, road and electrical infrastructure. Other areas of concern include public parks and infrastructure in the Pritchard, Casa Loma, Gellatly Bay and Whitworth Road areas. Residents and visitors may see City crews installing bladder dams, gabion barriers, sand bag walls and more in an effort to protect public property from flood damage.
Private property owners are responsible for protection of their property. Waterfront residents are encouraged to install protective measures and secure docks and other marine infrastructure.
Sand and sandbags have been made available for the public in the following locations:
The City is also installing signage at self-serve sand/sandbag locations to protect properties from flood. This information is available at this link: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/embc/flooding/sandbagging.pdf
The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre, activated to support emergency response to 2018 freshet, is indicating that higher than normal snowpack levels, warm temperatures and predicted rainfall have contributed to an elevated risk to flooding on Okanagan Lake.
Members of the public who wish to keep informed are encouraged to sign up for email notification from www.cordemergency.ca and www.westkelownacity.ca.