West Kelowna

A West Kelowna neighbourhood woke up to some minor flooding on Friday morning.

West Kelowna Assistant Fire Chief Darren Lee says they were called out to assist with a mudslide on Scott Crescent around 7:00 a.m.

Photo: Contributed

Residents of Scott Crescent woke up to flooding on Friday morning.

"I got up there around 7:15 and our public works department was on scene already. We had a culvert which had become clogged and was overflowing. The debris and water was pushing one car around that was parked in a driveway and then the water was subsequently running downhill and across the road into another residence's back yard."

That runoff eventually found its way into a sunken living room on the main floor of the home.

Lee says a couple of other residences had some debris from the flood come to rest on their property, but they were free from water damage.

The Public Works Department worked on diverting the water and cleaning out the culvert, while the fire department helped to protect nearby homes from further flooding.

The incident is not being directly blamed on the recent heavy rainfall in the Okanagan. Lee says it appears that debris which buildup inside the culvert led to the overflow, and had the blockage not been there, the culvert probably could have handled the rainwater.

The incident was followed by the District of West Kelowna issuing an advisory to watch out for just that problem.

They are asking area residents who notice debris build up or other obstructions at culverts and storm drains, or other conditions that may cause flooding problems, to contact the District’s roads maintenance contractor, Argo Road Maintenance at 1-800-663-7623.

With as much as 40 millimetres of rain forecast to fall through Saturday, June 9, the District is asking the public to help the municipality and its roads maintenance contractor identify and resolve drainage issues and ensure surface water properly empties into the storm sewer system.