Photo: Daniel Deveau - file photo

Gellatly Road was one of the harder hit flooded areas in West Kelowna last spring.

The City of West Kelowna is being recognized for its response to last year's flooding, as it stares down another year of potential floods.

The American Public Works Association is giving the city its Exceptional Performance in Adversity Award for its response to last spring's freshet.

In a release, the city says its flood response team consisted of 27 City Parks staff, 23 Public Works staff and 32 West Kelowna Fire Rescue personnel.

'”Working continuously for 100 days, the team faced unprecedented challenges as flash flooding caused bridge and road closures and threatened other public infrastructure and private property, followed by historically high Okanagan Lake levels that damaged property all along the City’s waterfront,” Kirsten Jones, communications supervisor for the City of West Kelowna said.

The city says it was the biggest natural emergency they've faced.

“It was all hands on deck for approximately 16 weeks and none of us had ever experienced anything like it before,” said Chris Anderson, public works manager for the City of West Kelowna.

“Looking back, it was the biggest natural emergency we have ever dealt with in our community but what was borne out of that time of incredible adversity is a heightened sense of cooperation and comradery amongst our team that I know will serve West Kelowna well as we face new challenges in the future.”

The award will be presented to the city at the American Public Works Association Expo in Kansas City on Aug. 27, 2018.