Cliff collapses into river

Compelling footage captured just south of the B.C. border shows an entire hillside sliding into the Kettle River.

The video was taken at Rock Cut RV Park and Campground in Goldstake, Wash., about 10 kilometres south of the border and roughly 30 kilometres southeast of Grand Forks. The cliff collapse happened on Saturday, two days after the river flow peaked through the county.

Park owner Denise Nef Frehner shot the footage, which shows a large hillside and a number of trees falling into the river below. 

"The RV Park itself is safe," she said. "You can go over the railroad, and there we have two acres of land. And one acre is gone now, that was the video... I've never seen this in my life."

Officials with the Regional District Kootenay Boundary said flows on the Kettle River late last week, just south of the border, peaked at two feet higher than record levels from 1948.

While no erosion footage of this magnitude has been captured in the B.C. Interior, there is potential for materials to fall into rivers in many areas due to eroding riverbanks. For that reason, the RDKB Emergency Operations Centre said evacuation orders in the region could soon be expanded.

Frehner said she has friends in Grand Forks and Christina Lake and is well aware of the flood damage in those places and others in the southern Interior of B.C.

"I have no words for that, and I can't really imagine what it means when you lose your home. When you see land going down the river, it's nothing compared to seeing people lose their homes," she said.

"They are in our thoughts, and we hope they make it."