Kelowna businesses flooded as forecast calls for more rain overnight

KELOWNA – Chach Denero isn’t bothering with sandbags because his business is already under a metre of water.

He’s the manager of Pacific West Systems on Adams Street. It backs onto Mill Creek near where it crosses Sexsmith Avenue, and he’s watched the water level creep higher ever since it started raining yesterday evening.

By noon, water was already inside.

“It’s a real mess,” he says, floating a plastic container filled with thousands of dollars’ worth of drywall equipment.

He says now that the damage is done and everything that can be saved has been, he’s just going to call it a day.

“We’ll wait for the rain to stop and we’ll pump it out.”

Adams Street is only one area of Kelowna hit with flooding today, May 5. Virtually all streams, creeks and rivers are swollen past capacity.

Around 90 properties are under an evacuation alert in the Fintry Delta area south of Fintry Provincial Park.

Gellatly Road is closed near Rotary Trails Park as last night's rains pushed Powers Creek over its banks.

The River Forecast Centre has issued a flood watch for Mission Creek and the Kettle River, along with the Salmon River and it's tributaries in the Shuswap. 

The forecast calls for overnight thundershowers so more flooding is expected in the next 24 hours.

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