It sounded like an explosion as dozens of rocks, some as big as 15-feet tall, came crashing down during the morning of Jan. 22.
Local resident James Scott Goll, who owns Digging Dogs Farm caught the slide on video. The slide occurred around 9:45 a.m. Friday morning on Highway 3 near the Red Bridge in Keremeos.
The video was uploaded to his Facebook page and shared by locals and many out of towners.
“Holy Hannah that was a big rock slide, man,” Goll can be heard saying as the rocks kick up dust streams as they speed down the mountainside.
One of the larger rocks came barreling down the mountain, coming to a rest just inches from the highway.
“Wow, wow. The sound man,” Goll could be heard saying in the video titled ‘Eeegaats!!! The sound was unbelievable, was like huge explosion.’
Another video posted online by another witness shows a transport truck speeding along the highway as the massive boulder comes to a stop in the catchment area by the roadway.
Some area residents told Black Press that the friction caused by the rocks clashing with each other as they came down the mountain caused sparks and at times red glowing areas.
The highway was not closed as a result of the slide. Orange cones were placed around the boulder.
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure geotechnical engineers are conducting assessments to ensure the highway is safe for drivers.
Warmer weather and freeze/thaw conditions are resulting in more rockfalls. Rockslides are typical this time of year.
The four-lane highway was closed for several days in January 2013 when rocks, some as large as cars, slid down the slope and onto the road about nine kilometres west of town, damaging two vehicles in the process. This was followed by six more smaller slides on the stretch of highway that year and further slides, resulting in road closures and damaged vehicles, were reported at the site in May and June of 2014.
