Rebuilding the 2017 flooding along Summerland’s lakeshore will not be repaired until this fall, more than a year after the devastation that left beaches, paths and roads damaged.
Linda Tynan, Summerland’s chief administrative officer, said the municipality is collecting the sandbags from the 2018 spring flooding and is now in the process of dismantling Gambion baskets which had been set up to contain the flood waters.
Despite these efforts, damages from the flooding one year earlier still remain.
In 2017, the lake level was well above full pool and as a result, beaches and parks at Okanagan Lake were under water and sandbags were set up to protect homes along the lake.
The flooding also resulted in extensive damages to the walking path along Okanagan Lake in Lowertown, as well as to two docks at Rotary Beach and a portion of Lakeshore Drive North, near Crescent Beach.
Tynan said the municipality will repair the damages to the path and to a portion of road from the 2017 flooding, but the work will not begin until fall.
“When there’s flooding damage to pathways that border the water, you have to go through the permit application process,” she said.
The process involves acquiring provincial permits for the repair work, even though it is for rebuilding a previously approved pathway.
Tynan said municipal representatives plan to discuss this permit process with provincial officials at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, held in fall.
She added that she would like to see a more streamlined process to address repairs to the damaged pathway.
However, despite the slow process in receiving permission, the municipality will receive funding to cover much of the cost of the repair work.
The work on the docks, pathway and a portion of Lakeshore Drive North is expected to cost a total of $640,000.
Disaster Financial Assistance funding is available to cover 80 per cent of the repair work, but not enhancements to the facilities.
