Oliver-area residents still reeling from flooding losses

More than a month after major flooding in the Oliver area, some residents are still trying to cope with their losses.

About three years ago, Art and Eva Ardiel planted 10,000 haskap plants as part of their retirement dream.

The plants usually take a few years before they mature and start producing fruit. But the Ardiels’ fields were flooded out before that could happen.

“It’s sort of like a dream that’s gone,” Ewa Ardiel said.

“There certainly is a numbness that kicks in,” Art Ardiel said.

The couple thinks officials monitoring water levels did too little too late, which caused the canal near their property to breach its banks.

“Water coming from the north has to go past us here,” Art said. “They had an opportunity here to take this lake down here a little further. That didn’t happen here. We were wondering why, when we watched the lake levels, the flow of the Similkameen, the flow of the Okanagan River, why nothing was being done?”

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The Ardiels estimate the flooding cost them upwards of half a million dollars.

“We have 10,000 plants that have to be torn up. They are dead, and they will not survive, they will not come back,” Art said.

He estimated that cleaning up the fields alone will cost at least $25,000.

Art also expressed concerned that not enough preventative action is being taken, including draining lakes with no natural outlets up the hill.

“We need to make sure people are being listened to,” he said. “And if this is the new norm, we need to see some really strong pro-active management.”

The couple applied for disaster financial assistance but were denied because their farm isn’t the means by which they both derive the majority of their income, according to a letter from the province.

“That was like a kick in the head,” Ewa said. “For somebody to come and say because you’ve worked hard, you’ve had savings, and you have income, then we’re not going to help you, even though we didn’t do this.”

The length of time that it takes haskap plants to produce fruit is the reason why the farm didn’t produce any income, Art said.

According to the letter from the province, the Ardiels can appeal the decision.

The province wouldn’t speak to specific cases, but also said that although the couple didn’t qualify under disaster financial assistance, they might be able to get help through some agricultural programs.