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Proposed fix for Hummingbird Creek doesn’t go far enough

Residents continue to push for replacement of highway culvert.
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Needs work: Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure district manager Murray Tekano listens patiently as Swansea Point resident Barry Beardsell expresses his concerns over the ministry’s proposal to repair Hummingbird Creek.

Swansea Point residents are far from content with the province’s plan for flood mitigation along Hummingbird Creek.

Last Wednesday, representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure attended a public meeting at the Swansea Point Fire Hall to outline their plan to repair the creek.

MOTI district manager Murray Tekano said work would begin Monday, Feb. 18, to restore the creek to the condition it was in prior to the June 23, 2012 flash flood, so that it would be able to handle a one-in-200 year flood based on “clear flow” modelling (i.e.: flooding without debris such as the trees and boulders that came down Hummingbird Creek in the destructive 1997 and 2012 flash floods).

This second phase of work at Swansea Point, said Tekano, will include the removal of rock and other debris from the creek bed. The section from Mara Lake up to the culvert under Highway 97A will be lowered by a meter. In addition, the creek will be “armoured” with rip-rap rock up to the highway, and along portions on the upper channel, including where water ripped away large chunks of residential property, along with rip-rap.

What the ministry will not do is replace the culvert, which was identified by the majority of residents as necessary to mitigate future debris flows similar to the one in June, when the culvert was rapidly plugged,  forcing the torrent over the highway and through residential areas.

culvert

Swansea Point Community Association president Dan Keely says residents are pleased to finally see action from the province to address the creek. At the same time, he says they are dissatisfied, and will likely remain so until the culvert is addressed.

“I feel if they don’t replace that culvert, the same thing is going to happen, whether it’s next year, or the year after… It’s going to happen again,” says Keely, noting how even when there isn’t a dramatic debris flow, water tends to bottleneck at the culvert come freshet. “Because the culvert will not take debris away, as soon as you get a big log down that stream, it blocks that culvert… And if we have a freshet that’s going to be as big as people imagine it’s going to be, and if we get some rain with it, it’s going to happen this year.”

The importance of replacing the culvert was repeatedly stressed at the meeting by locals of varying backgrounds, from politics to engineering.

“The problem started with the clearcuts above. That’s where it started and, over the years, the debris has worked its way down,” commented Dan Danyluk, a retired engineer. “And right now, the culvert is adequate for the water. But certainly it’s not adequate for the debris. And it’s the debris that has caused both of the incidents here in ’97 and last year.”

What residents are seeking is either a larger culvert, one that would allow the debris to flow through, or a bridge, such as the one included in a $4 million project proposed by the province in 2004 that never came to fruition.

Tekano, however, said the existing culvert is in “pretty good condition,” and meets the province’s requirements for a clear flow event. But he also said the ministry would be studying the culvert’s effectiveness over the spring.

“I am not saying there’s going to be a bridge built, or there’s going to be anything more done than that,” said Tekano. “But we are looking at more options that we can do. And at some point that culvert will need to be replaced; it’s not going to last.”

Columbia Shuswap Regional District Area E director Rhona Martin called the proposed work a Band-aid, and questioned what the province would be doing in the way of ongoing monitoring of the creek. Tekano said an excavator would be left on site as a precaution during freshet.

Martin also took a shot at the province, suggesting the creek is finally being addressed to “maybe take some of the pressure off these people have been putting on the premier and Minister (Shirley) Bond’s staff, and yourselves.”

Keely says it was NDP safety critic Kathy Corrigan’s visit to Swansea Point on Feb. 6 (announced in press release issued on the evening of Feb. 5) that pushed the province to change its tune, from saying there was no money, to getting machines in the creek.

“Up until the day that Kathy came here, they weren’t going to do anything,” says Keely. “And then, all of a sudden, we got this email about 10:30 the morning Kathy was here, telling us they were going to proceed with the work.”

Tekano said the planned work for the creek is based on recommendations by contracted engineering firm Golder and Associates. Maps by Golder detailing the recommended work were presented at the meeting. They state they were issued for review on Nov. 23, 2012, with the final draft issued Feb. 5.

Keely says residents have begun a new letter-writing campaign to put further pressure on the B.C. government, as well as Corrigan and the NDP, to come up with a fix for the culvert.

“As I told Kathy and Steve (Gunner, Shuswap NDP candidate) when they were both here…, I said, ‘you folks better remember all of this stuff come May. If you form the next government, I don’t want to see you starting to act like this government is right now and backing out of everything, because they both said something needs to be done,’” said Keely.

 



Lachlan Labere

About the Author: Lachlan Labere

Editor of the Salmon Arm Observer, Shuswap Market, and Eagle Valley News. I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to keep our readers informed and engaged.
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