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Vo l . 58 Iss Incumbent Akisqnuk chief re-elected
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Outside the district school board office in Invermere, Rocky Mountain School District 6 teachers (left to right) Robyn Oliver, Heather English, Andrea Dunlop and Becca Wright along with concerned grandmother Margaret O’Sullivan (far right) took to the picket lines for the first day of the province-wide rotating strike on Monday, May 26th. PHOTO BY STEVE HUBRECHT
Heavy snowpack prompts regional warning DAN WALTON dan@invermerevalleyecho.com Over the course of the winter months, mountains throughout the Kootenays have accumulated 135 per cent of the normal snowpack, prompting the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) to issue a seasonal flooding reminder. The current conditions have the potential to increase the severity of possible flooding, but the impact of a heavy snow pack depends largely upon the intensity of the runoff. “It’s important to understand that the level of the snow pack is less significant than the way the melting occurs,” said RDEK Communications Manager Loree Duczek. “For example, if we have a stretch of warm days and cool nights, the melt will be completely different than if we go into a string of really hot days, warm nights and rain.” In Fairmont Hot Springs, flooding
caused by the seasonal runoff resulted resort continues to work with the rein a precautionary state of emergen- gional district to find new ways to concy last June, and a landslide caused a tain sediment flowing down the creek, state of emergency in July 2012. “if and when it comes,” said Mr. Derpak. The Fairmont community and FairThe resort monitors its hot and cold mont Hot Springs Resort have both un- springs on a daily basis to measure the dergone significant restoration by ap- flow and colour, which can indicate future plying many of the recommendations conditions, he added. from a report published Shadybrook Resort in early in 2013 titled the Windermere has also The level of Fairmont Creek Dehad to adjust its operasnowpack is less tions because of floodbris Flow Hazard and Risk Assessment, said significant that the way ing in recent years, and Fairmont Hot Springs melting occurs. owner Mike DuBois is LOREE DUCZEK expecting more floodResort president Ken RDEK COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Derpak. ing again this year. The pedestrian Because of a recent bridge taken out by the landslide in shift in the route of Windermere Creek, 2012 was supported by columns in the the creek channel is susceptible to creek bed; it has since been replaced clogging with sediment, and the 11-acre by a 190-foot freestanding bridge lead- property has become more vulnerable ing to the resort’s RV park. There are to flooding. now oversized culverts and reinforced “The flooding problems in Winderbanks along Fairmont Creek while the mere Creek are not caused by too much
VJ (Butch) Bishop Owner/Operator 4846 Holland Creek Ridge Rd. Invermere, BC V0A 1K0
water,” Mr. DuBois said. “The water overflows the banks because the channel is filled with gravel. This process will happen every summer and winter for the next 20 years unless the government fixes the upstream problem.” Mr. DuBois said the resort will prepare as best it can with sandbags. In the regional district press flooding notice, Ms. Duczek reminds anyone affected to stay away from fast-moving water, reinforce properties situated in vulnerable regions, and report sudden changes in turbidity by calling 1-800-6633456 — a provincial co-ordination centre that will garner the quickest response. “If people notice creeks or rivers become suddenly chocolatey brown with large chunks of debris or if the flow suddenly decreases or stops, they should report it as soon as possible so the situation can be properly assessed by Provincial Flood Assessors,” warned Ms. Duczek.
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