Ted Walker is at a loss for words as his 20th Street home is flooded for the second consecutive year.
Walker and his family, joined by numerous friends and concerned neighbours, were hard at work to mitigate damage caused by the adjacent and overflowing BX Creek.
Related: Anxiety flows with floods
“It’s ominous, it’s truly ominous,” Walker said after spending most of the afternoon fighting the floods. “The height of the sandbag wall, it’s scary. I’m not sure if it’s going to hold.”
He estimates that the water level came up about one foot by 11 a.m. this morning and another one-and-a-half feet since then.
Sandbags are currently keeping the majority of the flood water at bay, but Walker isn’t certain of what to expect as the night wares on.
“We’re getting water in the basement. From the floods last year it pushed through, made a pathway, and now it doesn’t take much from when the creek comes up to push some water in,” Walker said.
City crews cleared debris from the 20th Street BX Creek culvert in April, but Walker said more should have been done to prevent flooding.
Related: Crews clear debris from BX Creek
“This could have been dealt with beforehand. The creek could have been dredged when it was dry, whether it was September, or October, or November last year when it definitely could have been dealt with,” Walker said. “Cleaning out the culverts is a great thing, but when you clean out the culverts down to the base and the creek bed is three feet higher, you’re not really accomplishing a whole lot other than maybe deterring it from coming down 20th.
“Just at a loss for words for the most part.”
Related: Vernon urged to be ready for floods
Parker Crook | Reporter
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