Observer SALMON ARM
Wednesday June 27, 2012 www.saobserver.net $1.25 HST INCLUDED
Shuswap copes with flooding Evacuations: Some residents allowed to return home, water quality remains poor. By Lachlan Labere OBSERVER STAFF
A mandatory evacuation order for Swansea Point was lifted Tuesday afternoon, but the order remains in effect for 2 Mile. Following an inspection by helicopter of Hummingbird and Sicamous creeks Monday, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Shuswap Emergency Program (SEP) rescinded the evacuation order for the Swansea Point subdivision. SEP warns in a Tuesday, June 26 news release that an evacuation alert remains in place for Swansea Point. With Highway 97A still closed at 2 Mile, Swansea Point property owners can get home by the highway from Grindrod. RCMP officers will be distributing packages to Swansea residents as they return home. As for 2 Mile, SEP states the evacuation order stands. Evacuees will be given an extension to the support they’ve received for accommodation, food, lodging, etc.
JAMES MURRAY/OBSERVER
Buried: An SUV sits in a raging torrent of water which is coming down from the higher levels of Sicamous Creek. The creek overflowed Saturday and created a new channel, wiping out everything in its path. “Residents are asked to report to the Sicamous Seniors Reception Centre to complete extension forms,” states the release. Those unable to get to the centre may call
1-250-833-3350. Residents of Swansea Point and 2 Mile were evacuated Saturday and Sunday after Hummingbird and Sicamous Creeks
turned into rampant debris flows, breaching their banks, rolling across Highway See Residents on page A2
Shuswap Lake expected to peak today By Barb Brouwer OBSERVER STAFF
A westerly flow of weather is bringing drier air and respite to the soggy Shuswap. David Campbell with the BC River Forecast Centre said Tuesday the level of Shuswap River was 349.4 metres and close to peaking. “We’re seeing nearpeak levels through the Shuswap and probably will have seen the peak on Shuswap River,” Campbell said in a media news conference
call Tuesday afternoon. “We’re just hitting Shuswap Lake peak; that will be happening today or tomorrow, but the lake will be keeping high levels for the next few days.” In terms of highelevation snowpack, Campbell says there is lots of snow and the melt is well under way, with his only caution being periods of extreme heat or heavy rainfall that could elevate flow. The Salmon River is in freshet but is well
below levels experienced in the early part of June – and well below levels of concern. Warning preparedness meteorologist Doug Lundquist says rainfall Saturday measured 23 mm at Environment Canada’s station near Marine Park wharf and 25 mm at the Salmon Arm Airport. As of Monday, rainfall for the month of June totalled 93 mm of rain at Salmon Arm’s Environment Canada station and 117 mm at the airport – well above
the average of 63 mm for the month of June. Lundquist said, estimating from the radar during the storms, the area reeived 30 to 45 mm of rain – possibly as much as 60 to 80 mm in some spots like Sicamous. “The rain was extraordinary, but the storm is gone and we’re moving into a drier pattern,” he says, noting it doesn’t mean there won’t be any rain this week, only that it See Canoe on page A11
This week The kids fishing program at McGuire Lake has been shut down. See details on A5. Dragon boaters manage to get some races in despite the rain. See more on page A20.
JAMES MURRAY/OBSERVER
Knee deep: Anglers Tryell Verney, 10, and brothers Seth and Ethan McPherson, aged 9 and seven, fish the water near the wharf in Canoe late Sunday afternoon just hours before City of Salmon Arm closed the site.
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Life & Times ............... A8 Sports............... A20-A24 Arts & Events ... A25-A27 Time Out................... A28 Vol. 105, No. 26, 52 pages