As part of their seasonal flood preparedness efforts, our Flood Response Unit has been out in the region inspecting various areas of concern.

During an inspection this week, the Flood Response Unit discovered that the large sediment basins in upper Fairmont Creek had captured a substantial amount of debris flood material recently. The good news is, this is exactly what the capture basins are designed and built to do and we are happy that this material did not reach the community. Having said that, this material has now reduced the containment capacity in the upper reaches of the creek.

We are working to have this material removed as quickly as possible and our Emergency Program personnel have been actively working with the Province to see if a portion of the cost of removal (up to 80%) can be covered under an emergency response task number. We have just been advised that the Province has verbally approved the sediment approval on Fairmont Creek.

There has been an increased sediment deposit on Cold Spring Creek in the past two days and we are now working on submitting a request to the Province to have the debris removal here approved as part of an emergency task number. We will keep you posted on this front.

Staff are working as we speak to have the necessary equipment and required qualified professionals in place as quickly as possible so that we can remove the debris from the affected basins and restore capacity, particularly throughout these next few weeks of freshet.

Debris amounts are not to a level requiring an evacuation alert; however, significant weather could potentially change that. Staff are monitoring the situation closely and will take further action if required.

The Flood Watch for the East Kootenay remains in effect and although the weather conditions are expected to cool down somewhat into next week, there is the potential for convective thunderstorm activity and intermittent rainfall over the next few days that could continue to create unexpected and rapid changes within local waterways (such as Cold Spring and Fairmont Creeks).