Flood-stricken Twin Lakes homeowners feel forgotten by government

Exhaustive sandbagging efforts were underway Tuesday by residents at Twin Lakes, about 20 kilometres southwest of Penticton, who are fighting to save their homes from flood waters.

Some waterfront property owners, like Craig Hunter, are facing sleepless nights as they watch the rising lake water.

“We’ve had a number of thunderstorms and heavy rain,” Hunter said. “In the last two days, we’ve had more rain and in a ten day period there was a four-foot rise in the water.”

The water has breached a sandbag wall, flooding a roadway and creeping into driveways.

Residents said they feel forgotten by provincial emergency officials with little help to cope with the rising water.

“I think the response was delayed and it’s been inadequate to deal with a flood of this magnitude,” Hunter said.

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One of the biggest concerns is the risk to the sewage lift station.

If the lake level rises further and breaches the containment, the lift station will have to be shut down, cutting off water and sewer service to at least nine homes.

If that happens residents may have to evacuate.

“We’ve got Ministry of Health out there to advise whether they need to have a boil water advisory,” said Dale Kronebusch, Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen Emergency Services Supervisor. “And we are going to get ready if they need to evacuate from about nine homes.”

Hunter said the anticipated disaster could have been avoided.

“The lake could have been pumped down lower in the fall,” he said. “We could have been given permission by the Ministry of Environment to pump earlier.”

In an email to Global Okanagan News, the government states:  “On May 9, 2017 the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations water stewardship staff issued an order that allowed residents to begin pumping from Twin Lakes. Due to flood concerns downstream, the order could not be issued sooner as pumping from Twin Lakes risked further exacerbating flood concerns downstream.”

Under a stormy sky and with more rain in the forecast, residents are going it alone hoping it’s not too late.