Government to check dams throughout B.C. after slide

The B.C. government has implemented a dam check process in the aftermath of a landslide that destroyed five homes in southern B.C.

The Environment Ministry says staff will be checking dams throughout the province on a priority basis.

Officials believe it was a dam breach that sent a river of mud and rocks down a hillside south of Oliver on Sunday, ripping apart homes and burying several orchards under thick mud.

The province has already announced a review of the Oliver slide by the Public Safety ministry, and say the dam checks are not pre-judging the outcome of that review.

There are about 2,000 dams throughout B.C., and maintenance is the responsibility of the licence-holder but audits are the responsibility of the Environment Ministry.

Dams are supposed to be audited every five years if they are of "high consequence" and every 10 years if they are considered of "low consequence."

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  Debris from a landslide is shown from the air near Testalinden Creek, just south of Oliver, B.C. on Sunday June 13, 2010. As rescuers made their way through the debris of a landslide that struck several homes in southern British Columbia on Sunday, it began to appear that most area residents had made it out in time. (CP/Daniel Hayduk)

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  A house sits damaged by a landslide as water, left, continues to rush down the mountain near Oliver, B.C., on Monday June 14, 2010. No one was hurt but five homes were destroyed when a wall of mud, water and rock swept down Testalinden Creek, south of Oliver, about 400 kilometres east of Vancouver on Sunday. (CP/Darryl Dyck)