British Columbia's provincial flag flies on a flagpole in Ottawa on July 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

By The Canadian Press

Potential dam failure ‘imminent,’ triggers evacuation alert for 14 B.C. properties

Oct 7, 2025 | 9:21 AM

KAMLOOPS — An illegally built dam in front of a B.C. Interior lake threatens to burst, forcing residents along the river downstream to prepare to evacuate.

About 14 homes along Fadear Creek, located about 15 kilometres north of Sun Peaks Mountain, have been put on evacuation alert due to the possible “imminent” failure of a nearby dam.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District said an unauthorized dam on Fadear Lake could fail and create “an uncontrolled release of water” into the creek.

Colton Davies, a spokesman for Thompson-Nicola Regional District, said on Tuesday that the man-made gravel dam is at the north end of Fadear Lake where the lake drains into Fadear Creek.

Davies said a couple of culverts within the dam have been blocked up, causing the lake level to rise.

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“And that’s led to the situation now where the province is concerned about water potentially spilling over the top of this man-made dam,” said Davies.

He said the overflow could start to erode the dam and lead to an “uncontrolled” flow of water coming down Fadear Creek.

The district said the alert was issued Monday after the provincial government estimated the volume of water that would be released if the dam failed.

The evacuation alert area covers properties immediately downstream from the lake, where Fadear Creek feeds into Louis Creek.

The district said residents in the alert area should prepare to evacuate their properties at a moment’s notice, as an evacuation order may come with limited warning.

Davies said it’s “definitely an unusual situation” to see an unauthorized dam, and the regional district isn’t sure who built it, since dams are under the jurisdiction of the province.

“We’re just continuing to assess it regularly here, and working closely with the province to see what can be done in the immediate term,” said Davies.

The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said in a statement that there was another unauthorized dam in the same area that caused downstream damage in 2023.

The ministry said it was notified of the dam and natural resources officers went to the site, where they determined there was an “imminent risk of overtopping.”

“Immediate steps being taken are assessing the risk and developing a plan of action. The top priority is keeping people safe. An engineer is being contracted to assess the situation and prepare a plan for next steps,’ the ministry statement said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2025.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press