Several residents were collecting items from their homes Wednesday in Olalla as water levels continued to rise around their mobile homes.
At least four mobile homes were issued a voluntary evacuation order as water continues to pool in a nearby field. The water surrounded three homes completely and was starting to collect at the front and side of a fourth by early evening.
A resident who only wanted to be identified as Susan lived in the last mobile home to receive the order.
Her and her son and a friend were collecting some of her more precious items from the mobile she has called home for the last 20 years.
“It’s nerve wracking. This is a 55 plus park, you know. Quite a few of us are disabled. We don’t know what is going to happen to our homes. It’s nerve wracking. We’re sitting here thinking where do you go?” she said.
She had secured a room at Crowsnest Winery and planned to stay there for at least the night. Several of her other neighbours were staying in local hotels or with family.
She said the water is the highest it’s been since she moved to the park two decades.
The water, she said, was pooling in that area because of overflow from Twin Lake and White Lake.
The Review has contacted the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen and the province to confirm.
Further into Olalla on 7th Street homeowners were taken by surprise with higher than normal water rushing through the Olalla Creek, which cuts through several properties in the small community.
“It’s normally awesome (having the creek run through the property),” Tanya Deyaeger said. “It usually runs high in the spring but this is the worst it’s been.”
The creek breached the sides and overflowed in the Deyaeger yard Tuesday evening. Tanya along with other family members rushed to fill sandbags. They spent over 2.5 hours filling bags and building about 4 foot wall where the breach happened.
“The house is pretty high up so we aren’t worried about it but the yard has a low spot so the water was just pooling there,” she said.
The water dropped about a foot during the cooler weather on Wednesday but there are concerns with more warm weather expected later this week that the snow pack will melt quickly again and cause the creek to increase flow.
Tanya noted she’s seen plenty of debris pass through her yard and through the culvert at the edge of her property.
The culvert blocking is another big concern for area residents.
“There’s stuff coming through. We saw a couple trees and a 2 by 4. Someone must have been doing work further upstream and it got swept away and who knows what else.”
The dike in Cawston is currently under assessment and may have work done to it before the water recedes if warranted.
George Bush, Area B (Cawston area) director has voiced concerns about the state of the orphan dike, which breached in the 1940s causing water to flood most of the community.
The Review will update as more information becomes available.
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