Okanagan Falls, B.C. residents, officials closely monitoring creek levels

As of Thursday afternoon, 75 properties along Shuttleworth Creek remain on an evacuation alert.

Water levels in Okanagan Falls, B.C.’s Shuttleworth Creek have gone down significantly since last week, however with warmer temperatures in the forecast, that could quickly change.

Longtime Okanagan Falls resident, Ted Lynch, has been watching the creek near his home and says it could be the calm before the storm.

“It started coming in earlier last week and it’s still up quite a bit. But from what I see in the temperature projections, by Sunday, we may have a lot more water here,” said Lynch.

“Then throughout the fall, next week, it’s going be hot so I think we could have some trouble here.”

Back in 2018, Shuttleworth Creek breached its banks and flooded several homes in the area. Water damaged a number of homes and some roads.

“Three or four years ago it got into a lot of houses, in crawlspace. It didn’t really take any away as it’s a little bit too small to carry a building. So, it can and it can jump the bank,” said Lynch.

“My house] is quite a bit higher, so we don’t have to worry about it. But then you never know, if the creek jumps upstream and comes roaring across the village.”

With hot weather in the forecast, the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS) is keeping an evacuation alert active due to the potential flooding in the area.