UPDATE 12:30 p.m.: Mable Lake Road is now re-open to single lane alternating traffic on a “scheduled basis.”
This was the first car to pass through:
UPDATE 9:50 p.m.: BC Hydro confirmed power has been restored to its approximately 700 customers. According to spokesperson, Dag Sharman, it took crews nearly 11 hours to fix the five downed power polls and multiple damaged lines. Power was cut at around 6 a.m. Friday morning after the slide occurred.
NEAR ENDERBY — Roughly 200 people are still stranded after a landslide blew out a local bridge and the only usable road leading in and out of a rural region between Enderby and Mabel Lake.
Those trapped are being asked to conserve water, but did receive some fresh supplies Saturday.
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“Right now we have a number of shipments of bottled water, generators and medical supplies are being dropped into the community,” said David Sewell with the Regional District of North Okanagan.
There are no reports of injuries from the slide and Sewell said those stranded are calm.
Spurts of heavy rain didn’t make the clean-up effort any easier, but crews are still working around the clock to clear the massive logs and mud piles.
Power is still cut to nearly 700 customers, but Saturday morning crews were able to reach the 5 power poles downed by the slide to start the repair process.
As for what caused the slide, “it looks like what happened is there’s a lake up there and it appears it was blocked by a beaver dam or ice or a combo thereof and the water built up to a point it couldn’t hold it anymore and it let go,” said Leigh Pearson with Vernon Search and Rescue.
The road is expected to open on Monday to single lane alternating traffic.
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