A playful afternoon at BX Ranch Park turned tragic for a family whose dog was swept away by the creek Thursday.
The fast-flowing waters of BX Creek took Carol, Adam and Jesse Campbell-Watt’s chocolate Labrador, Askim, around 4 p.m. Thursday. The faithful family pet was found deceased in the creek Friday.
“We have three dogs and they actually all got pulled into the water and we were actually able to retrieve two of them,” said Adam.
Dozens of friends, family and fellow dog lovers helped the family search for the five-year-old lab.
“We are happy to be taking him home and would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who helped in our search to bring Askim home,” said Adam. “The kindness will never be forgotten.”
While the family has never had a problem with their dogs around water before, the creeks are running extraordinarily high due to recent heavy rainfall and snow melt.
“It’s going quite fast but they’ve been around water their whole lives and it’s never been a problem,” said Adam.
Residents are asked to take extreme caution around rapidly flowing creeks and rivers.
Due to the flooding conditions in the region, mainly in the Ashton Creek and Enderby areas, the Emergency Operations Center was activated to Level 2 Friday.
“We want the public to know personnel are on standby and ready to respond to any emergency as a result of flooding,” said Gord Molendyk, information officer for the EOC.
Level two means the center is open and several emergency personnel have been actively monitoring the flooding conditions in the area, and are in position to go to a full operational capacity if the conditions change at short notice.
