Four properties were flooded and three roads gouged near Osprey Lake Monday night.
Volunteer firefighters worked until 4:30 a.m., laying 200 sandbags after Lee Creek breached its banks, according to Rob Miller, Hayes Creek fire chief.
Water from culverts on Meadow Crescent flowed over approximately 1,000 sandbags the department laid last week as a preventative measure.
“If we had not laid those bags previously, the damage would have been devastating,” said Miller in a written statement.
Related: Residents brace themselves for high water as temperatures climb
Two of the four properties flooded have sustained structural damage.
The ten volunteers working in the dark, utilizing a dump trailer and tractor, managed to contain the creek water flowing out of Lee Creek.
Help is needed today to bag more sand.
“The snow pack feeding Lee Creek is just starting to melt [and] the elevation feeding Lee, Siwash and Shinnish Creeks and others feeding Hayes Creek are just starting to melt,” he said. “Lee Creek has risen 60 per cent plus since Monday night.”
Miller said with warmer temperatures expected later this week “it could get ugly this weekend…Keep yourselves, children and pets away from rushing creeks. The power of rushing water is huge and can easily sweep you off your feet.”
While volunteers are being asked to meet at Meadow Crescent at noon Tuesday Miller said it not necessary for anyone from outside the area to travel to Osprey Lake at this time. “We have enough bodies for now.”
Related: Tulameen flood expected to worsen
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