State of local emergency declared west of Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – A state of local emergency and evacuation order have been called for the community of Cherry Creek.

The Thompson Nicola Regional District has issued an order for 11 properties to be evacuated due to high water in Cherry Creek causing damage and flooding to properties and infrastructure. Residents have been told to report to an Emergency Social Services Reception Centre at the McArthur Island Sport Centre lounge on the North Shore.

The declaration of a state of local emergency was issued at 8:00 p.m. yesterday, May, 5. During the afternoon residents battled the fast moving water and called on the regional district for help, but received little assistance, according to one resident.

“’We’ve called the helpline six times. They say, ‘well your house isn’t quite flooded yet, so we have other things that are more pressing.’ Well, it’s been two days and nothing yet,”’ Corine LeBourdais said.

Her property is one of those now under the evacuation order.

The properties involved in the evacuation order, which was also issued at 8:00 p.m. last night, are west of the Trans Canada Highway between Beaton Road and Greenstone Road:

• 1472, 1490, 1501 Greenstone Road
• 5080 and 5096 Lazy Acres Road
• 5160 and 5168 Beaton Road
• 5012, 5032, 5064, 5108 Trans Canada Highway.

Cheery Creek is south of Kamloops Lake and west of Kamloops.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.