Thunderstorm rainfall closes stretch of Highway 8; impacts City of Williams Lake

A geotechnical investigation is underway for the Dot Ranch area of Highway 8, but DriveBC says there’s no estimated time of re-opening and no detour is available.

The storm brought lightning as well, but Sekhon says once again, that was not in the proximity of Kamloops.

“Yesterday we had a fair amount of lightning activity — not necessarily around the Kamloops area, but south of Kamloops, Salmon Arm, quite a bit of lightning activity. Also up into the Cariboo, we saw lots of lightning activity in that area, south Chilcotin, 100 Mile House region.”

According to the B.C. Wildfire Service interactive map, a few spot fire starts have been recorded in the Merritt area, but none is very large.

Further north, the City of Williams Lake says crews will be busy for the next few days with clean up and repairs following a rapid amount of rainfall.

Some overflowing sewer accesses led to water backing up onto the streets in Williams Lake, causing traffic to slow. Pat Mahood, Williams Lake’s manager of public works, says the City’s storm water collection system is designed to carry storm flows in underground piping and in open ditch.

“Older areas of the city have smaller storm mains than newer areas as the design criteria has changed over the years, as has the frequency of high-intensity, short-duration events,” Mahood says. “This change in intensity and the landscape of a city built on hillsides can lead to a surcharging of the underground storm system, which results in lifted manhole covers to relieve the pressure.”

Mahood says the surcharged sewer accesses are typically located at the bottom of hills and lower areas in the city’s collection system and are not welded or bolted down to allow water to flow to the street curb and gutters.

The City of Williams Lake has a 24-hour emergency line that can be reached at 250-392-5255 to report any concerns during these events.

by Aaron Schulze and James Peters

Thunderstorm rainfall closes stretch of Highway 8; impacts City of Williams Lake

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