Why do people build houses that get flooded?

[swamp1967]

Thanks to a delayed response by the city of Kelowna to clear a blocked culvert, multiple homes are getting flooded on Heimlich Rd now, after the blockage was cleared and a large amount of water was released. City policy of not doing preventative maintenance caused unnecessary damage. That also how housed get flooded!

[GordonH]

Oops by bad

[LTD]

Heimlich is no where near highway 33 its off of spiers in east kelowna

[swamp1967]

Good work City of Kelowna!

[LTD]

think of it as your very own moat, hopefully its not in your house tho

[swamp1967]

Not my house but it did belong to an older gentleman. He looked pretty stressed.

[Grandan]

Thanks to a delayed response by the city of Kelowna to clear a blocked culvert, multiple homes are getting flooded on Heimlich Rd now, after the blockage was cleared and a large amount of water was released. City policy of not doing preventative maintenance caused unnecessary damage. That also how housed get flooded!

Are people so lame that they cannot grab a shovel and unblock a culvert to avoid being flooded? Do we stand around wringing our hands while waiting for the Nanny state to show up and save us? The city cannot be the eyes and ears on every city block waiting for things to happen, it takes alert citizens to be proactive.
Is this another case of residents filling in the roadside ditches because they don't like the look of them? Come on people, step up! The time to clear the culverts is in the fall when things are warm and dry, not spring melt when the ditches are full of water.

[Fancy]

Doesn't look so easy on that road - why assume it can be done with a shovel?

[swamp1967]

For Grandan, most people in this area are farmers and are pretty self sufficient. That needed a suck truck to clear.

[Grandan]

For Grandan, most people in this area are farmers and are pretty self sufficient. That needed a suck truck to clear.

Right, those self sufficient farmers appear to have filled in several natural water courses that run across those properties:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Heimli ... 19.4484905
It probably took a front end loader to fill them in. I question whether there is culverts at all.

[swamp1967]

For Grandan, most people in this area are farmers and are pretty self sufficient. That needed a suck truck to clear.

Right, those self sufficient farmers appear to have filled in several natural water courses that run across those properties:
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Heimli ... 19.4484905
It probably took a front end loader to fill them in. I question whether there is culverts at all.

There are culverts here and you can see them if you drive down there and look. As i know you can use Google Maps, you should be able to see some of them in streetview.

[Grandan]

There are culverts here and you can see them if you drive down there and look. As i know you can use Google Maps, you should be able to see some of them in streetview.

I can see the overgrown culverts on street view.
It just strikes me as odd that knowledgeable people living in a flood prone area would not be proactive and take care of a critical part of their infrastructure. From what I can see the ancient watercourses run diagonally across multiple properties and portions of those channels have been filled in but cannot see that all of them have culverts, I suspect they do not.

[bob vernon]

Again and always, Okanagan politics plays a big role. Developers in the Okanagan get their candidates elected into office and then they get the zoning that they want to develop a chunk of land. And the land with a stream babbling through it can be sold for a lot more once a house is built on it. People like those features like water. And so developers get their zoning for flood plains. And they get to build higher and higher up the valley walls without being forced to put in storm sewers or drainages. And when the snow melts, water and mud ooze down onto the folks below. And they scratch their heads and can't quite figger out why.

Shouldn't the flood plains be kept as parks? Shouldn't developers have to put in storm sewers and other drainage? Nah, it just gets in the way of making a ton of money. Keep electing the yes men and women.

[brentville]

Shouldn't developers have to put in storm sewers and other drainage? Nah, it just gets in the way of making a ton of money. Keep electing the yes men and women.

Someone knows exactly how it works!!! Developers always build from the valley bottoms up...it costs more to develop on hillsides. Existing drainage servicing peoples homes below, that have been there for 30+ years, rarely get upgraded, it rains, then floods and Municipality Officials give everyone the blank stare..."we had no idea this could happen.....must be an act of God."

[Grandan]

Again and always, Okanagan politics plays a big role. Developers in the Okanagan get their candidates elected into office and then they get the zoning that they want to develop a chunk of land. And the land with a stream babbling through it can be sold for a lot more once a house is built on it. People like those features like water. And so developers get their zoning for flood plains. And they get to build higher and higher up the valley walls without being forced to put in storm sewers or drainages. And when the snow melts, water and mud ooze down onto the folks below. And they scratch their heads and can't quite figger out why.

Shouldn't the flood plains be kept as parks? Shouldn't developers have to put in storm sewers and other drainage? Nah, it just gets in the way of making a ton of money. Keep electing the yes men and women.

That is all misinformation, it is false. Complete BS.