Highway 3 west of Keremeos shut down until at least Thursday

The Similkameen River, 14 km west of Keremeos in B.C.’s Similkameen Valley, has spilled over onto Highway 3, shutting down the route overnight.

Princeton residents face lengthy delays traveling to the Okanagan, while Keremeos residents will have to add several hours extra to get to the coast.

The Ministry of Transportation has been monitoring water on Highway 3 in the past few days, concerned about potential damage from the rising flood waters.

Heading east from Princeton, the detour available is via Hwy 5A in Princeton to Hwy 97C, to Hwy 97 to Hwy 3A in Keremeos.

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A new evacuation alert was issued Wednesday night for Sunkatchers RV Park, Riverside RV Park and Riverside Estates, west of Keremeos.

Other properties in the alert include 3133, 3143, 3145, 3141, 3149, 3155 on 10th Avenue and 4121 and 5625 on Highway 3.

A state of local emergency was declared in Princeton Wednesday to help that Similkameen community prepare for flooding.