Tempers flare over floods

Blood was boiling at an informational meeting in Oliver regarding flooding in the South Okanagan Wednesday evening. 

A packed room at the Oliver Community Centre addressed Regional District of South Okanagan representatives, among other emergency operations personnel, and brought up concerns over flooding in Sportsmens Bowl and Willowbrook.

"We were here last year explaining our situation, nothing was done, we were continually told the culverts were good, and here we are again," said Michelle Weisheit, an evacuated Willowbrook resident who says she has three inches of water in her basement.

Weisheit spoke at the meeting, asking for a task force to be put in place that coordinated RDOS and emergency services in order to best serve the region.

"It's not just Willowbrook residents or Sportsmens Bowl residents, it's all of us together and we need to all collaborate together to try and fix it and not have this happen next year," Weisheit said. 

Bill Newell, chief administrative officer of the RDOS, said they are working on pumping water from the Park Rill Creek area and redirecting it to Okanagan River.

The pumps have been active since Wednesday morning and had reduced water levels by 10 inches by the evening.

The event ran well into the evening due to the number of attendees who wished to speak during the open mic section.