Jim Stewart is forced to trek through his neighbour’s yard and climb through a fence to access his flooded home in Olalla, BC.
He’s been put up at a hotel for a week through emergency services.
The 55 plus mobile home park in the small south Okanagan community is about 40 kilometres southwest of Penticton.
It is on a flood plain but residents say this is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.
“A few of these mobile homes are wrecked right now, we’ve had it, they are flooded right out,” Stewart said.
The high water has flooded at least four mobile homes.
Some residents opted to evacuate while others are staying put.
“Mom called me up hysterically that the driveway is under water,” said Jamie Walker, concerned about the well-being of his 60-year-old mother on disability assistance.
“It’s just the worry that the water is going to encroach on further property and create damage and more headaches.”
The political representative for the area said the scorching temperatures are to blame as they reach into the 30’s.
“The snow is melting up in Apex and it’s coming down to Keremeos Creek,” said Elef Christensen, Area G Director for rural Keremeos.
But some residents feel the provincial government should do more to protect them.
Margaret Munn said they’d be spared from flooding “if they dredged that creek.”
Residents are asking volunteers to help in the sandbagging efforts as homeowners are being warned “it’s going to get worse.”
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