Central Okanagan mayor wants full review into recent flooding
Posted July 14, 2017 9:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WEST KELOWNA (NEWS 1130) – A mayor in the Central Okanagan wants the province to do a full review of the recent flooding situation that caused millions of dollars’ worth of damages.
According to Mayor Doug Findlater, there are lessons that can be learned from the devastation caused by record high lake levels this past spring.
He’s hoping for a review to be done similar to the one commissioned following severe wildfires in Kelowna.
“Headed by the former premier of Manitoba, to look at those kind of issues related to fire –could it have been predicted and how was the response– and we got a lot of useful information.”
Findlater says flooding forced evacuations as well property damage around Okanagan lake, and adds though the community is Greatful for the support the province provided, there are still questions that need to be answered.
He believes early the weather in March pointed to the possibility that we were going into a drought year, but all the winter snow came very late into the season.
“Which meant that the dam couldn’t be released fast enough at Penticton.”
Findlater claims city councillors –both from West Kelowna and around neighbouring communities– as well as the Regional District of the Central Okanagan are on board with his resolution.
“Do we need to improve the data monitoring and data analysis so that we get better predictability? Really tough predicting the weather but we think we should take a look at that.”
