The District of Summerland is still assessing the damage left in the wake of Tuesday night’s windstorm as several waterfront docks were destroyed and people’s properties flooded.
Conrad Teske’s backyard looked more like a pond on Friday.
The Trout Creek area was the hardest hit in Summerland.
“A lot of docks are damaged, some boats were blown off hoists,” said Teske.
Tuesday night’s storm wreaked havoc on waterfront properties.
“The boat was going up and down like five feet and there was huge waves coming over here, all the sand bags were gone, we had 240 sandbags,” he said.
Ian Clarke’s basement, like many others, is flooded from rising ground water.
“This is our last line of defence here and we’re hoping it will hold,” he said, pointing to a wall of sandbags.
Portable dams line the shoreline of Powell Beach which is currently closed to the public as the parking lot is under water.
“Our public beaches were hit hard, we lost big pieces of our public docks,” said Summerland CAO Linda Tynan.
Emergency officials are warning of worse conditions in the weeks ahead.
Okanagan Lake has already reached levels not seen in 70 years and officials say it could rise another 15 centimetres.
Brian Symonds, who is currently the water stewardship manager with the provincial ministry of forests, lands and natural resources, said to expect rising lake levels.
“It really depends on the weather, we’re looking at how the snow is melting,” he said. “Fortunately right now the precipitation looks minimal in the short-term which is a good sign but the temperatures are going to be high and that will accelerate the rate at which water comes into the lake.”
Symonds said evidence suggests the lake historically reached even higher levels than the 343 metres above sea level flood mark, before official record keeping began.
“If you go back and look at the historical information it suggested that in the early 1900’s the lake reached a level of equivalent today of 343.74 and there is information that suggests back in the late 1800’s it was even higher,” he said.
Symond warned the public that even when the lake reaches its peak it will stay there for some time.
“It will be up for several weeks. We’re going to be much higher going into the summer, going into June and July and even into August than we normally would be,” Symonds said.
Emergency officials urge residents to remain vigilant through the coming months.
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