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Piles of debris hauled from Summerland rock slide site

Material removed from site would more than fill an Olympic swimming pool
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If all the material from the rock slide on Highway 97 north of Summerland were dumped into an Olympic swimming pool, it would more than fill the pool, leaving no room for the swimmers. (Black Press file photo)

Crews have hauled a lot of material from the site of the rock slide on Highway 97 north of Summerland.

Since the hauling began on Wednesday, between 3,500 and 4,000 cubic metres of material has been removed from the site.

That’s enough to fill one and a half Olympic swimming pools.

Or, if the material were put into 500-millilitre water bottles, and if those bottles were lined up, the line of bottles would extend from Summerland to Vancouver, following the highway.

RELATED: Crews continuing to clear rock north of Summerland

RELATED: Rock slide on Highway 97 north of Summerland beginning to stabilize

While this is a big rock slide, it is not the biggest in the area, according to representatives of the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

The 2008 rock slide on Highway 97 north of Summerland was larger than this slide.

Ministry officials say the slide north of Summerland this year is similar in size to the slide which occurred in April 2018 on Highway 3A near Yellow Lake, east of Keremeos.

That site deposited an estimated 9,000 cubic metres, or enough to fill three and a half Olympic swimming pools.

(One should bear in mind that it is not a good idea to fill Olympic swimming pools with debris from a rock slide, as doing so does not allow anyone to go swimming in the filled pools.)

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John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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