EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Gallery depicts devastation from flooding Pages 6 and 7
Malakwa school offers unique experience Page 8
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Vol. 53 No. 26 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Evacuation order lifted in Area E Flooding: Swansea Point residents may return home; evacuation order still in effect for 2 Mile. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
A mandatory evacuation order for Swansea Point was lifted Tuesday afternoon, but the order remains in effect for 2 Mile. Following an inspection by helicopter of Hummingbird and Sicamous creeks Monday, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Shuswap Emergency Program (SEP) rescinded the evacuation order for the Swansea Point subdivision. SEP warns in a Tuesday, June 26 news release that an evacuation alert remains in place for Swansea Point. With Highway 97A still closed at 2 Mile, Swansea Point property owners can get home by the highway from Grindrod. RCMP officers will be distributing packages to Swansea residents as they return home. As for 2 Mile, SEP states the evacuation order stands. Evacuees will be given an extension to the support they’ve received for accommodation, food, lodging, etc. “Residents are asked to report to the Sicamous Seniors Reception Centre to complete extension forms,” states the release. Those unable to get to the centre may call 1-250-833-3350. Residents of Swansea Point and 2 Mile were evacuated Saturday and Sunday after Hummingbird and Sicamous Creeks turned into rampant debris flows, breaching their banks, rolling across Highway 97A and through the neighbouring communities. Approximately 250 people were evacuated from Swansea Point and 80 from 2 Mile. Another 100 to 120 were houseboaters who lost their vehicles in the 2 Mile debris flow and have been unable to get home.
Aftermath: Above – Montcalm Crescent in 2 Mile is ripped apart and littered with debris as a result of Sicamous Creek escaping its banks and diverting through residences and the neighbouring houseboat operation Saturday afternoon. Below – a van lay imbedded in debris along Highway 97A. Photos by James Murray and Lachlan Labere “They went to the evacuation centre because their vehicles were gone. The highways are closed to their homes… so what do we do with them? We have to put them up. They have nothing,” said Sicamous Mayor Darrell Trouton. Trouton noted there were about five people in 2 Mile refusing to abide by the evacuation order, despite efforts by him, the RCMP and the fire department’s effort to convince them to leave. He and Fire Chief Brett Ogino later heard, however, that a few more have since evacuated. Sicamous Sands residents are also on evacuation alert. On Monday, water from the Eagle River was breaching its bank while the lake was seeping over sandbags in front of properties on the foreshore, and behind properties on the lagoon. Sicamous Sands manager Ken Lapp was keeping a close eye on his water pumps and power, expecting them to go any minute. See Sicamous Sands on page 2