Homes not in danger

UPDATE: 3:50 p.m.

The City of Kelowna says the homes above a collapsed retaining wall are not in danger, as they continue to investigate along Samurai Court in Black Mountain.

"The geotechnical engineer did not express concern for the houses directly on top of the wall. The wall is holding up the yards not the houses," said James Kay with the City of Kelowna. 

"Our crews were there earlier today as well as the geotechnical engineers ... They are working both to secure the area as well as to investigate what caused the failure."

Emergency vehicles are allowed through the area, but the city has asked the public to stay away. 

There is no evacuation order for any of the homes in the area at this time. 

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ORIGINAL: 5: a.m.

A retaining wall that collapsed Wednesday morning was a glimpse into what residents have been dealing with for months in Black Mountain.

Two separate residents living just a stones throw away from where the wall collapsed on Samurai Court are dealing with their own stability issues.

Taryn Kuiack took video footage Tuesday of mud sloughing down towards her backyard on Longley Crescent. The next morning, the retaining wall collapsed, leaving a home just inches away from the cliff.

The Kuiack family lives across from Samurai Court and they've been dealing with water draining around their house since March 2018.

“Super frustrating, our home was built in 2003 and there wasn’t any water issues until three years ago,” she said. “We moved in, there wasn’t much development behind us and in the past three years the development has gone crazy. They have taken out a forest, they are constantly blasting.”

Kuiack says it isn’t just her home, but other households across her neighbourhood.

Bobby Gleason was in his basement off Oswell Drive on March 22 when he first noticed flooding. The water was coming from a eight-foot-long crack in his foundation.

“We strongly believe it is related to the blasting done in the area over the last four to five months,” he said.

At first, the trembling was light, almost unnoticeable.

“As time went on, it got to the point where it was excessive trembling … when a blast would happen it would almost feel like an earthquake under our house,” said Gleason.

Gleason has created a short-term solution by patching up the wall, but excavating companies tell him it will cost about $15,000 to fix the issue completely.

The City Of Kelowna said they are reviewing what happened on the private property and they'll need a few days to assess the damage.

“We will report out when we have a better idea of the cause of the failure and the intentions of the property with respect to cleanup,” said Tom Wilson, spokesperson with the City of Kelowna.  

Gleason's neighbours in Black Mountain are uncertain and scared of what’s to come.

“If it continues on the way it is then it is going to be further damage to our current community,” Gleason said.

“It feels as though we are being neglected.”