Lumby braces itself for more flooding

The small community of Lumby in the north Okanagan is preparing for a potential second round of flooding disaster.

“It is very critical, we don’t think we are out of the woods at all yet,” Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton said.

The Village of Lumby is under a state of emergency with flood damage already pegged in the millions of dollars.

Twenty-five properties have been evacuated indefinitely. One house has been destroyed.

Heavy equipment has been brought in and crews are working feverishly to build berms around the fast-flowing Duteau Creek to prevent more flooding damage.

“We have a couple of days of hot weather followed by rain,” Acton said. “The impression we are under is that the snow pack in the higher elevations is still way above average so if we see rain again, which this flood was mostly just rain, as well as the freshet, we are actually anticipating even higher flows.”