It took less than a half-hour for the storm to churn its way through Kamloops, popping manhole covers, submerging cars and cratering the corner of one downtown front yard in a multi-million-dollar deluge.
The storm blew through town one year ago and, while vehicles have dried out and the Sixth Avenue sinkhole is filled in, much of the damage from the July 23, 2014, downpour is still awaiting repairs.
City of Kamloops drainage engineer Jonathan Welke said the slow pace of repairs is due to where they are needed. Much of the damage from the storm concentrated in drainage gullies around the city.
“The problem with the gullies is they’re really hard to access because they’re very deep and very steep,” Welke said.
“So, it becomes very complicated when we try to do repairs and analyze it and come up with cost-effective construction methods to repair them.”
The city has already fixed two major patches of erosion on Springhill Creek, one by the Peterson Creek picnic area and another near Summit Drive. It’s also completed various trail repairs required following the downpour.
Many other repairs are either about to commence or are being fine-tuned by a consultant.
Soon to be done is a repair to the waterfall near the south end of Overlanders Bridge, which will be cut back three metres into the rock face. Welke said the fix will keep water and debris from spilling onto bridge on-ramps during major storms.
“It causes a public safety issue, so we really want to remediate that,” Welke said.
A $1-million project to rehabilitate Guerin Creek between Pacific Way and Hugh Allan Drive should also begin soon. Welke said staff will ask council to approve a tender for the work at next Tuesday’s council meeting, with work to start in August and run for between eight and 10 weeks.
Beyond that, detailed design work continues for other erosion spots on Springhill Creek. A gully off Trophy Court is also due for drainage repairs due to erosion from the summer storm.
While the city doesn’t have an exact final cost for all repairs needed, Welke said the 2014 deluge will cost the city more than $3 million. The city hopes to recoup some of its costs through the province’s disaster financial-assistance program, which will pay for up to 80 per cent of repairs, though it won’t cover any improvements made to the city’s drainage channels.
Welke said the city hopes to soon submit to the government some of its bills for completed work.
At Sun Rivers, mud and water rushed down the main road into the development, while a nearby landslide hit Highway 5.
Sun Rivers vice-president of marketing Leslie Brochu said images from the day will feature in a presentation the community is making to Communities in Bloom judges tonight.
But, beyond that, the community wrapped up its repairs and cleanup long ago. The only real casualty was the Sun Rivers golf course driving range, which general manager Rob Laroque said is shuttered due to caverns torn into the range by the storm.
“It’s not a repairable option right now,” he said.
The massive storm a year ago today wasn’t the first July storm to cause flash flooding in the city.
In 2011 and 2012, the city experienced a pair of intense downpours on July 26. The 2012 storm caused a rockslide on the Overlanders Bridge. All three storms flooded the 10th Avenue and Battle Street underpass, stranding vehicles.
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