Residents along the Shuswap River should remain vigilant.
Officials had anticipated removing the evacuation alert for the river, from Sugar to Mara lakes Tuesday. However, that didn’t occur.
“The water has come up a bit because of rain Tuesday,” said Gord Molendyk, Regional District of North Okanagan spokesperson.
“We will continue to monitor the river and we hope that by the weekend and anticipated warm weather, levels will go down again.”
Molendyk insists there is no choice but to keep people prepared for a possible evacuation.
“We want to be on the safe side,” he said.
Howie Cyr, Enderby’s mayor, was hoping the alert would be lifted.
“The toll it’s taken on people has been significant in terms of people worrying about their homes and people giving of their time (volunteering),” he said.
The areas hardest hit have been beyond city limits, including Mara, Grindrod and Ashton Creek.
To get a better handle on the situation, North Okanagan Emergency Management has used remote controlled helicopters to take digital photographs of the river at various stages of flooding.
“These remote helicopters allowed staff to get a very close hand look of at bridges and areas of concern where a much larger aircraft would not be able fly,” said Molendyk.
“The photographs that were taken could become very important at a later date when it comes to looking at repairs to not only the infrastructure, but also to private property in the area.”
NORD is currently working with the provincial government to establish a process for residents to apply for disaster financial assistance.
While there has been localized flooding in the Enderby area, Cyr says residents’ thoughts have been with Sicamous, which was hit hard by flooding.
“Those people out there were really up against it,” he said.
Highway 97A between Grindrod and Sicamous reopened to traffic Sunday. It was closed June 23 after raging flood waters ripped the highway apart in the Two Mile area.
As a result of ongoing repair work to the highway, motorists should be aware of construction three kilometres south of Sicamous until further notice.
Shuswap Emergency Program safety teams are inspecting Sicamous area homes and businesses affected by flooding to determine if they are safe for occupancy.
