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Vernon  

In dire need of help

Melissa Frost is in desperate need of sand and some extra help.

Frost is staying with her 86-year-old grandfather and her boyfriend Mike Holloway at her grandfather's home near Newport Beach on Westside Road.

“Right now, we're in dire need of sand. We can't find any pits that are open. We have enough left for about 100 bags. We've already used about 3,000 bags and my granddad figures we need another 3,000,” she said Saturday.

As Okanagan Lake rose, the family took steps to protect the home her grandfather has lived in for 45 years, but then the winds came.

Tuesday's wind storm kicked up waves that wreaked havoc on the wall of sandbags they had in place, causing the water to flow past the barricade.

“It was coming right up over our deck and into our house. We sandbagged the sliding door,” she said. “It damaged the existing sandbags. We had to go back under and redo the house; that was the first thing we did. But now we have to work on the beach because if we don't, it will get under the house.”

The home is on OKIB land and Frost said the band was helping out “but their truck broke down and they can't get us any more sand. Right now need more sand and people to help fill sandbags.”

Frost is in a race against time as Okanagan Lake is expected rise between 10-15 more centimetres this week.

Anyone able to help Frost and her family can call her at 519-755-1118.



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