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'It's devastating': Cache Creek residents battle flood waters

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Streets turned into rivers, businesses and homes flooded.

This is the devastation facing parts of Cache Creek, where the flood situation has intensified. Twenty-one properties have been evacuated and one home has been destroyed.

“Some of the business owners have lost a lot of stuff. Some of the homeowners, their basements are flooding, their yards are getting washed away,” said evacuee Kevin Scharfenberg from the hotel room where he is now staying with is family.

“All the areas that are getting affected by the water, it looks terrible. It’s devastating,” he said.

His son, Cyler Scharfenberg, said it looks like a river running through the village.

“When you go up a bit, it just looks like normal Cache Creek and then you come back down and the whole roads are just getting washed away,” he said.

Snow at higher elevations is melting quickly, leading to flooding not just in Cache Creek, but in other parts of the province. With warm weather and rain in the forecast, flood conditions are expected to worsen in several regions.

“I am asking British Columbians in the central Interior, Okanagan, Grand Forks, Boundary and southern Kootenay areas to remain vigilant and be prepared,” said Bowen Ma, minister of emergency management and climate readiness, at a news conference Thursday.

"It is a dynamic situation that is quickly evolving, but significant flooding in these regions is possible this weekend,” she explained.

Dave Campbell, who heads up the provincial river forecast centre, said that “in areas where we already have issues related to flooding, we could anticipate we could see exacerbation of those conditions."

"We can also expect to see new areas coming online as rivers are challenged with this," he added.

Near Cache Creek, flooding has damaged Highway 97, which remains closed. However, a public safety notice to residents said highways in and out of Cache Creek were expected to reopen sometime Thursday night to single-lane alternating traffic.

Officials have warned people to stay away from swollen rivers, saying the banks are dangerous and saturated with water.

“We’ve had reports of children playing near the river, which is very, very risky,” said Wendy Coomber of the Cache Creek Emergency Operations Centre.

Meanwhile, residents have been getting help with sandbagging from both neighbours and strangers alike.

“Lots of people in surrounding areas are just showing up with their shovels and saying, 'Hey, what can we do to help?'” said Kevin Scharfenberg.

He said he’s worried for his community.

“You just don’t know how much more water is coming. I think it’s going to be quite a bit of damage,” he said.

Cache Creek residents have criticized governments for not taking more proactive steps to prevent the disaster they are now experiencing.

“It’d be nice if they can fix this problem once and for all,” Scharfenberg said, calling the situation “frustrating.”

Ma said the province has been working with the community on a flood mitigation plan since 2020. 

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