Flooding damages 1.4km of Highway 5 between Valemount, Blue River
By Spencer Hall
Flooding caused by heavy rain combined with seasonal runoff damaged about 1.4 kilometres of Highway 5 between Valemount and Blue River over the weekend.
The Ministry of Transportation said the roadway experienced significant damage to the ditch, shoulder and road surface at Chappell Creek and Allan Creek after water overflowed and spilled onto the highway. A third location at Lempriere saw mud and debris come onto the road.
The highway was closed in both directions on Saturday evening and only reopened to single lane alternating traffic nearly 24 hours later. The Ministry told The Goat that Highway 5 will remain open over the coming weeks while the road is being repaired.
Vehicles travelling through the two areas that sustained flooding damage are restricted to 4.7 metres wide with a weight restriction of 85 tons.
The Ministry added that it will continue to work with Emil Anderson, the highway maintenance contract, to recover the highway.
“DriveBC remains the best information source for highway closures and conditions and will be updated as new information becomes available. Drivers are advised to reduce their speed and use caution when they encounter poor weather or limited visibility on highways,” the Ministry said in an email.
Concerns caused by heavy rain
Valemount CAO Anne Yanciw told The Goat that heavy rainfall last week caused concerns about the Village water supply due to the turbidity of Swift Creek, which prompted Village staff to take extra measures to ensure residents had clean drinking water.
“As the Public Works weekend guy said ‘I can’t make water out of mud.’ We performed a backwash just before the weekend to ensure the system was as clean as possible beforehand, and he shut the [water treatment] plant down on Saturday until the water cleared a bit,” Yanciw said. “We likely need to backwash again afterwards.”
Yanciw said the Village is not concerned that the rainfall will cause a landslide or flooding within Village limits, but said slides elsewhere could occur.
“The possibility of a slide into Swift Creek is always a bit of a worry, and flooding [or] slides that impact highway access is also always a concern,” she said.
In the event that the Village needs to issue any advisories, such as a boil water notice, water restrictions, or evacuation alert, Yanciw said it would use the Voyent! Alert system.
In the meantime, the CAO advised residents to stay away from the banks of Swift Creek while water levels remain high due to the rapidly flowing water undercutting the banks, making them unstable.
