State of emergency declared, 60 homes in Oak Hills evacuated in wake of flash flood

This is what Oak Hills looked like Tuesday night. (Armchair Mayor News photo)

Westsyde Road became a lake.

Flood waters rushed down from above.

Coping with the conditions.

NEWS/ WEATHER — As a local state of emergency was declared late Tuesday night, crews were still working to clear debris from Westsyde Road and to suck water out of the Oak Hills mobile home subdivision, hours after the brunt of a massive thunder storm deluged parts of Kamloops.

The damage was localized, with some parts of the city and surrounding region virtually unscathed, but the downtown took a pounding in the storm that hit in late afternoon. The worst hit, however, was Oak Hills, which was quickly swamped by a flash flood that funnelled down Parkview Drive, raced across Westsyde Road and poured down the slope toward the residential area that nestles behind the protection of the Westsyde dike.

The scene that resulted — streets that looked like rivers between the houses — was reminiscent of the day the dike breeched during high water in June of 1972, sending a back eddy surging through the subdivision and earning it the unkind nickname Soaked Hills.

This time, however, it wasn’t only Oak Hills that was affected. The City issued an evacuation order and declared a state of local emergency for residents in the Oakdale mobile home park, Irving Place, Parkview Drive, Rhonmore Crescent, Oak Hills Boulevard and 2400 block of Westsyde Road.

The order and declaration allow for proper assessment of damaged properties and return of utilities, the City said. The B.C. Safety Authority will inspect homes affected by the flood on Wednesday morning, and RCMP, City bylaws staff and private security will watch the area over night.

When the flood struck, Westsyde Road quickly became clogged with traffic trying to make its way through the expanses of water that remained along the main artery above the houses and mobile homes, and the debris that came with it.

For long periods, traffic came to a dead stop in both directions but police soon managed to get some measure of control and began alternating the traffic flow. Nevertheless, homeward-bound commuters heading north to Westsyde were soon backed up from Oak Hills to Westmount, and then all the way to Eighth Street and the connected traffic coming across Halston Bridge trying to avoid the daily Overlanders Bridge congestion.

By late evening, traffic was moving at a relatively steady crawl, using two lanes northbound until the bottleneck about Oak Hills. Once past that, drivers were home free.

A lane was kept clear on Westsyde Road to allow police and emergency vehicles passage, as well as convoys of pumper trucks on their way back and forth to the soaked streets and homes. It’s expected the cleanup of Westsyde Road will continue at least into Thursday.

Sixty homes were evacuated from Oak Hills as residents were removed to an emergency reception centre in Parkside Lounge at Interior Savings Centre.

Police first responded to Westsyde about 4 p.m. Kamloops Fire and Rescue, City of Kamloops crews, and B.C. Hydro were all deployed to the scene, along with numerous Kamloops RCMP officers and auxiliary members.

Forty mobile homes and 20 other residences were evacuated from Oak Hills and about 40 other nearby residences were put on alert in the event they had to leave on short notice.

By 9:30 p.m., the traffic situation on Westysde Road remained extremely slow in both directions, as crews worked to keep debris off the roadway. Motorists were experiencing travel times of up to three hours where normally it would have been a half hour.

Several smaller rain cells have passed over the area, with each one bringing further flow across the roadway. Pumper trucks were working to keep water from accumulating at lower ground in the trailer park area.

RCMP Cpl. Cheryl Bush said all crews would continue to work through the night to ensure the safety of the residents in the area.

A return to hot, dry weather is expected for Canada Day.