Sparwood has extended its state of local emergency (SOLE) with hopes to repair erosion damage to the dike near the Mountainview Mobile Home Park.
Mayor David Wilks said the SOLE has been extended until Monday, June 27th while the District seeks help from the provincial government for repair work.
“It’s normally the responsibility of the dike owner to do this, which is the owner of the trailer park, however, due to the state of the dike, we have applied to the province to do some emergency work,” said Wilks. “We will hopefully get some word from the province this week that we can move forward. We can then get that fixed to some degree to allow the trailer park owner to complete that work.”
Wilks noted that a geologist commissioned by Sparwood to inspect the area had confirmed a significant amount of erosion.
District of Sparwood officials said 100 Aspen Drive, or Mountainview Mobile Home Park, will remain on an evacuation alert. The alert has been lifted in other areas of the community.
“If the dike were to fail, it would be catastrophic to the trailer park, because Michel Creek would find another route, and it would go directly into the trailer park, and we cannot let that happen,” said Wilks.
The mayor said Mountainview Mobile Home Park will stay under an evacuation alert until the dike can be repaired.
According to Wilks, the trailer park has about 150 mobile homes.
Residents are encouraged to be prepared for spring flooding by having a safety plan and creating a go-bag.
More: District of Sparwood website
More: District of Sparwood Facebook page
More: Flood preparedness (B.C. government)