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Kelowna  

Industrial zone flooded

Workers in Kelowna's north end industrial zone were shocked to discover a lake surrounding their businesses Thursday morning. Heavy rain Wednesday caused localized flooding along Gordon Drive prompting action from city crews to get the pooling water under control.

Paul Takken arrived at Glenmore Milwork at 7 a.m. to find city vactor trucks hard at work trying to contain the water.

“It was just a lake, a lot of water,” Takken says describing the scene. “It keeps on coming down the road but I don’t know where it is coming from.”

Takken says some doors were damaged inside the Glenmore Milwork storage building but otherwise the business didn’t suffer much damage.

Wednesday’s downpour caused Brandt’s Creek to rise, which in turn caused the storm drains to over flow, explains the City’s Utility Services Manager Kevin Van Vliet.

“It filled Brandt’s Creek which is where all of our storm drains here (off Gordon Drive) lead to and so Brandt’s Creek really wasn’t able to keep up with the storm pipes that were draining to it, so some of the storm pipes surcharged and we had some local flooding.”

According to several workers in the area localized flooding has happened before and this isn’t the first time they have had water rushing toward their business.

“We’ve been here three and a half years and I believe it’s three times it has happened similar to this,” says Bob Wall of Wall to Wall Kitchen and Bath. “I think this may be the worst.”

Van Vliet says the city hasn’t been informed directly about flooding of a business or about requiring assistance with water damaged property.

However Castanet discovered one building that housed a legal grow operation under the former Health Canada licensing program did sustain some damage.

Kelowna City Clerk Steve Fleming says the business is in the process of applying for a new license, but wasn’t sure what would become of the grow operation if they sustained serious damage.

The city will be reassessing the storm drains and how the north end industrial zone is effected by rain water. Some business owners questioned the possibility of widening Brandt's Creek to accommodate run off, but Van Vliet says it would be a timely and expense process.

There were no other reports of localized flooding to the City of Kelowna.



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