Officials say critical infrastructure on Lower Road in Roberts Creek has been protected and damage to beach cabins has been limited by diverting floodwaters, but there was still no end in sight for the state of local emergency declared Sunday by the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD).
The declaration came with an evacuation order for four properties and an evacuation alert for another six properties, all situated in the washout area in the vicinity of the 1800 block of Lower Road.
The orders are in effect for seven days, SCRD chief administrative officer Dean McKinley said Monday.
“The hope is, that both the order and the alert can be lifted before that, but we’re going to have to let nature and the experts tell us when it’s safe to allow people to return,” McKinley said.
“I’m hoping we’ll know a lot more today about what the level of risk is there. It’s always difficult in these situations to return people too early, only to have to evacuate them again. Today, we’re getting some pretty good cooperation from the weather, but we do have both snow and rain in the forecast, so that complicates things.”
The evacuation order is for 1815 Lower Road and 2016, 2022 and 2028 Ocean Beach Esplanade. McKinley noted that some of the property owners are not full-time residents and were not on their properties when the order was issued.
“I believe one person chose to stay, and it’s definitely not recommended, but that’s something that some people choose to do,” he said. “You can issue the order, but you can’t make people leave.”
The properties on evacuation alert are: 1994, 1998 and 2044 Ocean Beach Esplanade, 1843 and 1847 Lower Road and Lot 6, Plan VAP6446, District Lot 2497. Under an alert, residents are advised to be prepared to evacuate on 10 minutes’ notice.
McKinley said there has been some progress since the state of emergency was declared at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The exposed gas and water lines under Lower Road have been protected by a large I-beam and by topping about a dozen alders that were at risk of falling and hitting hydro lines and possibly the water and gas lines. As well, Fortis is re-routing its gas line as a precautionary move.
“So that part was successful,” he said.
The work involved the cooperation of several agencies including the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI), BC Hydro, Fortis, Telus, the RCMP, Roberts Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Airspan Helicopters and other contractors.
On Sunday, an excavator was used to dig a trench on the beach to divert water that was threatening cabins on Ocean Beach Esplanade. The machine was brought back on Monday to reopen the trench after more water and debris flowed into the area overnight. “That might be an ongoing thing,” McKinley said.
Officials have flown over the washout area in a helicopter and may bring in a drone, he said, to get a better look – both downstream from Lower Road to the beach and also upstream.
“You can still hear material coming down. One of the challenges we have now is with the level of undercutting on some of the banks, some of those trees that are on the tops of the banks are now in a precarious position, and a whole bunch of those are going to continue to come down. Some of them are pretty big.”
The MOTI area manager and an engineer were also on site Monday, he said.
“They’ve got to figure out what we’re dealing with so they can figure out what we need to do to get a more meaningful repair.”
Late Monday, McKinley said the SCRD learned it had been approved for additional geotechnical assessment work, over and above what MOTI and Fortis were doing.
Like other parts of the province that experienced major washouts, the Lower Road event was caused by heavy rainfall – more than 130 mm was recorded at Port Mellon on Friday and Saturday, with a total of 199 mm between Jan. 29 and Feb. 1.
The west end of Roberts Creek was also affected. A washout Saturday reduced traffic on Beach Avenue at Camp Douglas to a single lane and closed the north section of Margaret Road. Both roads were reopened late Sunday afternoon after Capilano Highways crews made temporary repairs.
The 1800 block of Lower Road remains closed until further notice. All traffic, including transit buses, has been detoured to Joe Road.
