Why Kelowna’s Water Street lived up to its name

Editors note: This story has been updated to add why Water Street partially flooded.

Large puddles began to form Tuesday night on Water Street in Kelowna and have expanded exponentially Wednesday near the Delta Grand Hotel and Prospera Place.

The street was covered in one location.

The City said the reason the street partially flooded is because a pump that was continually diverting water had to be turned off to check its oil.

“There is so much ground water that it takes two pumps going fulltime to keep the water from backing up through the storm drains and onto the street,” City of Kelowna communications manager Tom Wilson said. “As soon as the oil levels are checked and adjusted and the pump is turned back on, the water on the street eventually goes back down the drain and is pumped out into the lake.”

A third pump is now being ordered to help keep the water level down when one of the other two pumps are down for routine maintenance.