A local state of emergency declared in Noble Creek last week was rescinded Tuesday, May 16, after flood waters threatened the irrigation system intake north of Westsyde.
City of Kamloops emergency preparedness manager Will Beatty said the emergency works involved placing large rocks along the creek bank that was eroding toward the Noble Creek pump station. The state of local emergency went into effect at 10 a.m. on May 12, but work to reinforce the bank has now been completed.
About 40 to 50 metres of the bank had been washed away, Beatty said.
“The threat of infrastructure failure is no longer there,” he said, noting the threat to the station was imminent and a state of emergency needed to be declared in order to place the temporary rip rap in time to divert flood waters.
The state of emergency in Noble Creek was officially ended at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Beatty said the city continues to monitor the water level of the creek, which he said is “not alarming” at the moment. He said there are sandbags atop catch basins around McArthur Island in preparation for any snowmelt impacting the Thompson River, but noted those levels are not alarming at the moment.
“We’ll continue to urge people to stay away from the river. It’s fast moving [and] the erosion is occurring throughout the community. It’s not just the Noble Creek area,” he said.
Anyone with flood or erosion-related concerns is asked to call the City of Kamloops civic operations call centre at 250-828-3461.
