City speaks to residents as river levels set to rise and rain in forecast
By Contributor
The following is a press release issued by the City of Castlegar:
The City of Castlegar wishes to inform the community that BC Hydro has advised the city that river levels are expected to rise by 1 to 2 feet by Sunday. City staff are closely monitoring the situation and at this point there are no life-safety issues.
If any resident needs to contact the City for assistance during the work day please call 250-365-5979 or after hours please call 250-365-3341.
The areas of concern for the city remain to be:
1. The lift station on FirstAvenue – The river water level is approximately at the same elevation as the fluid level within the lift station. Crews are balancing the fluid levels to ensure the lift station does not become buoyant and lift. Compounding the problem is the slope leading from the lift station to the river is becoming unstable and starting to slip. City workers are placing large amounts of rip rap (large blast rock) at the base of the slope to provide a stable footing for the slope. In addition to acting as a footing, it will eliminate any scouring of the soils by the river currents.
2. The North Lagoon – The river water is currently at the lagoon. The North
Lagoon dykes are clay-soil dykes that form the treatment ponds of the North Lagoon. The river water is at the base and in some cases climbing up the dykes. The dykes are heavily vegetated so scouring does not seem to be a concern. We have had a geotechnical engineer review the site and he feels there is no immediate danger. City staff are monitoring the dykes’condition several times a day to ensure there are no preliminary signs of weakness.
3. Millennium Walkway and Zuckerburg Island – As the flows increase so does the erosion on the sections of the pathway that are submerged. At this point the city can not perform any preventative work, so the city will need to wait for the water to recede and then inspect the damage. The Zuckerburg Island causeway has a water main buried within it. We are monitoring the causeway, if it erodes enough the water main will be in jeopardy. The main will be shutdown and temporary overland services will be run to the houses that will be affected by the outage. The Park hasbeen closed to the public until further notice.
The current forecast is calling for approximately 30mm of rain this afternoon and evening. Crews are working on the one main remaining washout – Conehill Park gully. City workers are getting ready for the upcoming rainfall event by cleaning all of the catch basins that filled with debris on Tuesday and delivering and setting up sandbags on addresses that are concerned they will flood again.
Sand bags are available at the City Works Yard, 4500 Minto Road, (Phone
250-365-5979 or after hours 250-365-3341) for any resident that needs them.
1. The Trowelex Road washout has been repaired to the point that it has been reopened.
2. The road to the Grandview storm pond has been backfilled and the manhole and sewer mains that were exposed have been secured.
3. 23rd Street and 11th Avenue suffered substantial washout, this was
compounded by the amount of debris that was washed down from
Highway 3. Our intakes have been cleared and the road restored.
4. The Conehill gully requires considerable work. Two washouts and bank slips caused a large amount of debris to plug the outlet culvert. The outlet culvert has been cleared and rip rap placed to protect it in the future. A road within the gulley needed to be constructed to allow for reconstruction of the 36Street shoulder. Crews will be installing catchbasins on 36thstreet and 9th Avenue to ensure the type of slip doesn’t occur again.
5. Two private residences that have been affected with back yard slippages are being addressed for remedial and preventative measures.
The city is also making enquires for possible areas of provincial financial assistance so residents are advised to keep account of all financial expenditures
that they have had to make in relation to the recent storm events.
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