Mill Creek flooding, who cares?

[vegas1500]

vegas1500 would probably say the same thing about the Kelowna Mountain fire in 2003..........."you built near trees..........tough luck".

Nope I wouldn't.....not even a close comparison. I had friends that lost everything in the fire. But if you decide to build or buy in a flood plain, then it shouldn't be the cities responsibility.

[LTD]

kinda like rebuilding in tornado alley its not a matter of if, but when its gonna happen again

[WalterWhite]

vegas1500 would probably say the same thing about the Kelowna Mountain fire in 2003..........."you built near trees..........tough luck".

Nope I wouldn't.....not even a close comparison. I had friends that lost everything in the fire. But if you decide to build or buy in a flood plain, then it shouldn't be the cities responsibility.

The greater downtown, Pandosy and lower Mission areas are technically all flood plain.

[GordonH]

kinda like rebuilding in tornado alley its not a matter of if, but when its gonna happen again

Exactly, buyer be aware find out before you purchase if the property is in the flood plain if so. Weigh pro's & con's before purchasing.... not after, if you did purchase it don't be shocked if one day it does flood.

Maybe be proactive and install pumping system, it may not stop the flooding from happening but enough to minimize damage to the home.

[WalterWhite]

From the link provided in the OP:

Stewart said she didn't get much help from the city until it was almost too late.
"When I moved here five years ago, I did ask if there was ever any flooding, and (people) said no . . . there's a weir gate upstream, so when the creek gets really high, the fire department lifts the gate."
Stewart started calling City Hall at 8 a.m. Thursday and even went there at 1:30 p.m. However, city staff didn't know if a Mill Creek bypass to Mission Creek had been activated, she said.
Stewart was told sandbagging private property was her responsibility, so she got 200 empty bags from the Kelowna Fire Department and advice on where to pick up sand. On Friday, as the creek rose, a phone call to the emergency co-ordination centre and then the Kelowna Fire Department produced two truckloads of sand.
John Vos, the city's general manager of community services, said Friday the diversion channel, a 2.6-metre-square box culvert, started working automatically last weekend.
When Mill Creek water reaches a certain level, it spills into the diversion, he said. As the water level in the creek rose, a crew worked there most of the day Thursday and Friday to ensure debris didn't block the flow.

The city maintains control over the weir gate and therefore controls water levels downstream. A couple of truckloads of sand and a pallet of sandbags for affected residents to fill is hardly going to break the emergency services budget. If they were able to do so 5 years ago - what's changed?

[just popping in]

This rates up there with the letter to the editor re: Mule deer issue -- lowering the value of Upper Mission homes and fencing would take away from "their" beautiful view.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#195368

[WalterWhite]

This rates up there with the letter to the editor re: Mule deer issue -- lowering the value of Upper Mission homes and fencing would take away from "their" beautiful view.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#195368

Really? So, are you saying that the flooding is as insignificant as deer in their natural habitat, or the property owners facing the flooding are just whiny like Mr. EntitledintheMission?

[MAPearce]

Living next to any creek and complaining about flooding during spring run off makes as much sense as moving next a golf course's tightest fairway and complaining about broken windows...

How can anyone NOT see it coming ???

[MAPearce]

This rates up there with the letter to the editor re: Mule deer issue -- lowering the value of Upper Mission homes and fencing would take away from "their" beautiful view.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#195368

Is this twit for real ???? Blaming deer for roaming where they have for eons UNTIL this "winner" shows up ????

Take a bow dood ... Perhaps you should move to Burne Rd..........

No deer down there .

[WalterWhite]

This rates up there with the letter to the editor re: Mule deer issue -- lowering the value of Upper Mission homes and fencing would take away from "their" beautiful view.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#195368

Is this twit for real ???? Blaming deer for roaming where they have for eons UNTIL this "winner" shows up ????

Take a bow dood ... Perhaps you should move to Burne Rd..........

No deer down there .

Which is why I questioned the comparison - apples and oranges imho.

- to the topic at hand - why is this any different than in 2012? If the info is in fact correct, then this is again due to the city not adjusting the outflow at the weir gate to the runoff conditions - allowing too much water down Mill Creek.

Take the issue one step further - and go back to the 90's when the lake hit flood level. There was concern at the time that flood water could reach all the way back Richter St. is what we were told at our hall. Is the greater downtown of Kelowna just supposed to take a "well - what do you expect building a city next to a lake?" I completely agree with the responses if this was some lunkhead with a loghouse out in Beaverdell who was too close to the Kettle River. This is a large urban residential area in downtown Kelowna - big difference.

[MAPearce]

Which is why I questioned the comparison - apples and oranges imho.

No , no , NO , Wally ..

People who have no understanding about grade 7 science deserve to live in the bed they made .... The water cycle is a basic in elementary school science education and so is the science of human encroachment on wild life habitat ...

The comparison is valid from the perspective that BOTH should have been "no brainers" for these people before they hit puberty ...

[WalterWhite]

So anyone living in the greater downtown Kelowna area is *bleep*. and pretty much stupid for building/living in a flood plain? What about the entire Springfield/Benvoulin Rd. corridor - all flood plain. Everyone living there is stupid? Don't you live just a block or two from the lake by the hospital?

ETA: - and don't think it couldn't/never happened. There's photos of people in canoes on Pandosy St. in I believe the 40's or 50's right in front of where the new Sopa tower is going up. I'll see if I can dig it out.

[Fancy]

Benvoulin area


http://www.missioncreek.ca/illustrated-history/

[MAPearce]

So anyone living in the greater downtown Kelowna area is *bleep*. and pretty much stupid for building/living in a flood plain? What about the entire Springfield/Benvoulin Rd. corridor - all flood plain. Everyone living there is stupid? Don't you live just a block or two from the lake by the hospital?

Lived half a block from KGH and now live on the Springfield/Benvoulin corridor .. I'm not stupid though and if I saw the water coming , as predicted in spring run off time , I'll be prepared..

But of course I'm far enough away from Mission and Mill creeks that It's not a worry... And as much as I'd like to live next a golf course , I know better ....

ETA: - and don't think it couldn't/never happened. There's photos of people in canoes on Pandosy St. in I believe the 40's or 50's right in front of where the new Sopa tower is going up. I'll see if I can dig it out.

And don't forget that a lot has changed since then .. " Modern irrigation" and flood controls are the norm now ..

[Fancy]

Interesting history though - saw photos of the irrigation ditches needed way back when. Sandbagging is back breaking work but a necessary chore some years. West Kelowna had an area last year where sand and bags were dumped for local residents.