Uncertainty in Osoyoos as melting snow threatens more flooding

Ducks and fish swam through Osoyoos, B.C. streets on Sunday where children would normally play as residents wrestled with uncertainty about when the waters will rise again.

It's still a precarious situation for many people with lakefront properties. On Cottonwood Drive, it's hard to tell where the street ends and the lake beings since the muddy-brown water has risen well past its usual border.

Officials with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen issued a news release Sunday saying residents should prepare for high water levels in the coming week and expect them to peak on Friday.

Residents are anticipating another rise in water levels, but no one knows by how much. A few inches could make all the difference between a flooded home and a dry one.

The lake is so swollen partly because of a backflow effect from the surging Similkameen River south of the border. It's preventing water in the lake from draining properly, and instead it's rising up and submerging properties.

The snowpack on surrounding mountains is 150 per cent of its normal size, according to the district, and summery temperatures threaten to send more meltwater into the lake, pushing its already swollen edges further into the town.

Osoyoos declared a state of emergency Thursday evening due to imminent flooding, and since then 53 properties in town, one hotel and more than a dozen residences around the have been placed under evacuation order.

On Sunday evening, the district placed dozens more properties on the Similkameen flood plain on evacuation alert. Up-to-date information is available on the district’s website.

The province and the district have already distributed a million sandbags, and officials have asked residents to volunteer to help fill more. Pickup trucks towing trailers loaded with the sandbags could be seen dropping them off around town Sunday.

Officials have asked non-residents to stay away from the evacuated areas around Osoyoos Lake, and traffic control is being set up to limit access to locals.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's David Molko

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  Bryson McKinnon stops to look down a flooded street while kayaking in his neighbourhood, in Osoyoos, B.C., on Sunday, May 13, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

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  A duck swims past Rick Sylbester as he walks across a flooded street after moving a vehicle to higher ground, in Osoyoos, B.C., on Saturday May 12, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)