Skip to content

Sparwood cancels state of local emergency

Lower water levels have reduced the risk to the community
29569978_web1_210325-FFP-EconomicDevelopment-spar_1
District of Sparwood logo and flag. (Scott Tibballs / The Free Press)

The District of Sparwood has cancelled its state of local emergency as of Friday, June 24.

A state of local emergency, and a targeted evacuation alert were declared earlier this month due to high rainfall, rising river water levels and concerns about the erosion of a dike near Mountainview Mobile Home Park.

The district was granted permission to undertake remedial works on an orphan dike (dikes that do not meet provincial standards, and are no longer part of active flood mitigation efforts) near the Mobile Home Park, on Michel Creek, but in the end no intervention was needed as water levels declined and continue to remain low.

The dike in question is not the responsibility of the district, but it was given permission by the province and regulatory bodies to take action in case it was needed.

According to the district, if conditions change and water levels rise, the process in declaring a state of local emergency and undertaking remedial work will be restarted.

With a warm spell on the way for much of British Columbia including the Elk Valley, a high stream-flow alert remains in place (as of June 24) for the area due to snowpack runoff.

READ MORE: Coming warm weather could lead to higher stream flow in the East Kootenay over next few days



scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter