Kelowna street deemed unsafe following retaining wall landslide

The City of Kelowna has shut down Samurai Court in the Black Mountain neighbourhood following a four-metre-high retaining wall collapsing onto the street Wednesday.

Residents in the neighbourhood have been warned not to walk by the property or water their lawns, according to City engineer James Kay.

“I know it’s an interesting situation, but we’re asking the public to stay away,” Kay said.

Homes on the street have not been deemed unsafe despite two other backyards that have slumped.

“I’ve noticed the backyard at our place has gone down a couple inches,” Nishi Court resident Ashley Warawa told Global News. “And the next door neighbour’s here has gone down a foot.”

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The collapsed retaining wall is in the backyard of a home on Nishi Court.

A woman who lives across from the landslide on Samurai called the situation frustrating, and said she warned the City about the slumping wall over the last year.

“This is BS,” Rhonda Hunter said.

The City of Kelowna said it is waiting for the private property owners geotechnical engineer to report back on the cause of the collapse.

“Within a couple of days we will have a good indication of what caused the failure and what we can do about it,” Kay said.

Hunter believes the City should be doing more to ensure the safety of the residents on the street.

“I feel like they’re washing their hands of everything, not really giving us information,” Hunter said after seeing a note on her door about the street closure Friday afternoon.