Okanagan Indian Band Flood Advisories

The Okanagan Indian Band is asking Lakefront users and seasonal cottage residents on band land to refrain from traveling to their properties.

The band says it understands people want to access public areas or protect their cottages.

But conditions are such now there is no access to evacuated areas.

Meanwhile, the Band and the First Nations Health Authority have issued an advisory about swimming in Okanagan Lake.

They note that private beaches are potentially contaminated with sewage, chemicals and water runoff, never mind waste from waterfowl and domestic and wild animals as well as submerged hazards.

Swimmers are advised to avoid flooded water or at least swim with a high degree of caution in areas where there is debris and also avoid murky or highly discoloured water and any with an unpleasant smell to it.

Advisories have been posted on some beaches where there is a risk of contaminated water.

The band posted a “Contaminated Water” sign on its land that makes up most of Kin Beach where the lake has now covered most of the beach