Okanagan braces for another windstorm

With Environment Canada forecasting winds up to 50 km/hr in the Okanagan Thursday, emergency officials in the region are preparing for the potentially damaging windstorm.

“We’ve seen what some of that can do,” Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Director Ron Mattiussi said. “Thankfully when these gusts are coming in as fronts moving in or out, they tend to be gusts for a concentrated period of time. What would be very bad is to have high winds over a long period of time because then over time the pounding would take its toll.”

One of the areas that was being shored up Thursday was a stretch of Highway 97 south of Peachland near Antlers Beach.

Heavy rocks were brought in as crews worked to build a riprap wall along the vulnerable stretch of road to prevent further erosion.

Single-lane alternating traffic was in effect throughout the day to allow for the work creating long lines of vehicles in both directions.

In nearby West Kelowna, similar work was being done to repair the Gellatly walkway.

“We’ve watched the lake creep up and take it away for weeks now,” communications supervisor for the City of Kelowna Kirsten Jones said.

The timing of the work is critical as wave action and groundwater could cause a lot more problems.

“That could impact the undercarriage of the road and under the road is sewer so this is important to save,” Jones said.

Although it’s been by small amounts, the water level in Okanagan Lake has been decreasing over the past four days but was still 73.3 centimetres above full pool as of Thursday morning.

Weather still plays a big role in what happens to water levels.