The Columbia Valley’s Newspaper Since 1956
From Canal Flats to Spillimacheen
VALLEY ECHO T he
Wednesday, October 31,2013 2012 Wednesday, June 26,
Vol.57 56Issue Issue 40 Vol. 26
invermerevalleyecho.com
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$ 05 INCLUDES GST PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NO. 7856
BERNIE RAVEN CHRIS RAVEN 1-866-598-7415 TEAMRAVEN.CA Offices in Panorama, Invermere & Fairmont
Saying goodbye to well-loved school staff Pg A3
Connecting with the elders Pg A12
MaxWell Realty Invermere
DAN WALTON/ECHO PHOTO Cold Spring Creek in Fairmont Hot Springs on Thursday, June 20th after the heavy rainfall that caused flooding in Fairmont Hot Springs and throughout the East Kootenay further south last week.
Heavy rainfall restricts access to valley Major highways reduced to single lane or closed completely STEVE HUBRECHT steve@invermerevalleyecho.com
Torrential rainfall late last week caused flooding, closed roads and prompted an evacuation order in
the Upper Columbia Valley, but the valley was largely spared the more dramatic situations experienced elsewhere in the East and West Kootenay, in Canmore and across large swathes of Alberta. The heavy rain started late in the night on Wednesday, July 19th. Local creeks quickly swelled with the extra precipitation and the morning of Thursday, June 20th saw flooding in Fairmont Hot Springs and Dutch Creek. The Regional District of East Kootenay dis-
VJ (Butch) Bishop Owner/Operator 4846 Holland Creek Ridge Rd. Invermere, BC V0A 1K0
patched crews and declared states of local emergency in Fairmont and in the Dutch Creek area, followed by an evacuation order in Dutch Creek (which covered the Hoodoos Resort campground, the Hoodoos Grill and several homes in the area but not Dutch Creek Resort) later Thursday afternoon. “It's been a wild morning,” said Mainroad East Kootenay TO 'DISASTER' ON PAGE A5
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