By Tom Mark

Sandbag Filling In Vernon Continues With An Eye On The Lake

May 25, 2018 | 6:24 AM

The City of Vernon continues to stack pre-filled sandbags for residents needing to protect their property from potential flooding.

The province is paying for wildfire crews to assist with that.

City Public Works Manager James Rice says about 70 thousand have been filled so far, with 50 thousand taken by residents already.

“We were actually filling and storing sandbags outside the back gate to city yards, so off PV Road. So, a good portion of those sandbags went for flood protection related to BX Creek.”

Some high flows were recorded in BX Creek in the last couple of weeks, but with the warmer weather and lack of rain the creek levels have dropped a bit and stabilized.

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Several thousand more bags are being filled at the site on Tronson Road across from the airport.

“So we’re going to keep going for the short term.We still got another 50 thousand bags that haven’t been filled. As we exhaust those stores we’ll be bringing in more as well. We want to make sure we’re well-prepared.”

Pre-filled bags are also still available outside the back of the city yards and a fill-your-own site is set up in the overflow parking lot of Kin Beach.

Meanwhile, the city is keeping an eye on Okanagan Lake before deciding on any flood mitigation.

Last year, bladder dams or Tiger Dams were installed at Kin Beach and smaller access beaches on Lakeshore Drive and along Vernon Creek to protect the Lakers Clubhouse.

James Rice says the water has yet to reach a threatening level.

“With respect to Lakeshore, if we saw the water levels likely within about a foot of what we saw last year those dams would be in place. With respect to Lakers, probably go in a little bit sooner than that.”

Rice notes that the Okanagan Indian Band is also closely monitoring the lake levels before decided whether to put flood protection along Sandy Beach on Lakeshore.

Okanagan Lake is rising a few centimetres a day and could peak in a couple of weeks.

by Tom Mark