Rural Oliver resident Kathy Mercier stands among the chaos left in the wake of a massive mudslide on June 13. She is standing next to her 2005 Ford Explorer Sport Trac – upside down and in the mud – and holding a sign that used to advertise the “Grapevine Bed and Breakfast” which she and her husband owned. Photo by Laurena Weninger - Click on picture for larger image

OSOYOOS TIMES-June 23, 2010

By Laurena Weninger - Osoyoos Times

“This all belongs to someone else. I want them to take it back,” said Kathy Mercier, waving her hand at the mixture of mud and debris surrounding her broken home.
“Someone’s inaction, someone’s neglect, someone’s dereliction of duty, arrogance at the worst, has caused this to happen.”
Mercier and her husband Gene used to live on 125th Street south of Oliver and their home was called “The Grapevine Bed and Breakfast.”
But the June 13 mudslide flipped and buried her 2005 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, flung her hot tub across the yard, tore her house nearly in half, left chaos littered around Mercier’s 2.8-hectare property and left her one unhappy homeowner.
“The whole thing is, it didn’t have to happen,” Mercier said, pointing out that the state of Testalinden Lake was reported by a concerned hiker two days prior to the mudslide that caused the evacuation of 25 properties and destroyed five homes near Road 16 west of Hwy. 97.
Osoyoos’s Hal Krieger was that hiker.
“It was right full to the top and overflowing,” said Krieger about Testalinden Lake, the body of water located up the valley’s western wall from which the mudslide came. He added the earthen dam keeping the water in the reservoir was eroding.
Krieger said he has hiked the area plenty of times, but has never seen the lake flowing over.
He immediately went to Osoyoos’s Visitor Information Centre to report his concern.
“If they (appropriate emergency personnel) would have gone in there right away, even Saturday, it would have been OK. When I found out what happened, I wasn’t a very happy camper. They could have prevented it.”
But it’s unclear to everyone just who “they” are, what should have been done and when.
Jo Knight, Destination Osoyoos’s executive director, confirmed a hiker did come into the Visitor Information Centre and reported his concerns.
Those concerns were relayed to RCMP.
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, an RCMP spokesman, said police received a report mid-day on June 11 from the information centre “reporting that the Testalinden Lake (reservoir) appeared to be causing flooding and muddying to access roads near the lake and was voicing concerns regarding the environmental conditions seen.”
“Our detachment staff dealt with this third party phone-in report as priority, by immediately conveying this information onto a deemed-appropriate provincial partner, that being the Ministry of Forests on Friday, June 11, 2010, within minutes of receiving the third-hand report from the tourism cen-
tre,” Moskaluk said.
On June 15, the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General sent out a media release announcing that Deputy Solicitor General David Morhart has been appointed to review the circumstances leading up to the “debris and mud torrent.”
“Initial reports indicate it was caused by the failure of an earthen dam on a privately-owned, man-made reservoir situated about five kilometers from impacted homes,” the release states.
The review will examine the circumstances leading up to the failure of the dam, with cooperation from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
Information forwarded from Moskaluk to the media from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service states the investigation will focus on potential violations of the Water Act of B.C. in regards to the water licence and corresponding operation and maintenance of the reservoir.
According to Tasha Schollen, spokeswoman from the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, the dam is licensed to Elkink Ranch Ltd.
“Dams are regulated licensed structures in the province of British Columbia.  The license holder is responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the dam.”
Ace Elkink, owner of Elkink Ranch, declined an opportunity to comment on the matter.
The ministry’s investigation is to be completed by mid-July and then forwarded to the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General for review.
It will then be released to the public.
Mercier isn’t happy to hear it’s going to take so long.
“Why the middle of July?” she said, wondering if they will be getting any answers to who and how clean-up is going to happen in the meantime.
“I want them to come see what they have done.”
She’s frustrated there are excavators and dump trucks only minutes down the road, working on highway construction, and they aren’t being dispatched to help with the emergency cleanup.
Mercier said as far as she knows, they have been denied insurance coverage because the crisis was caused by “surface water.”
Some government assistance has been announced.
Disaster Financial Assistance has been approved, up to a maximum of $300,000 per claim – although individuals may apply for assistance in more than one category.
For example, if a farm owner has a personal residence on the property they may apply for assistance for the home as well as for land reclamation.
The assistance does not cover items that are not “essential,” like hot tubs, landscaping or recreational items like boats.
Agricultural loss may be covered by production insurance through the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, as well as the AgriStability program.
Meantime, Mercier, family and friends are working to salvage some of the personal belongings from the property.
They have been offered another home to stay in temporarily, rent-free.
Other affected residents have had to find other places to live as well, though they are now allowed to temporarily return to their properties for brief periods.
The Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) stated in a media release on June 18 that the evacuation alert remains in effect for all 25 properties affected by the slide and while owners can now freely access their lands they should remain on alert to quickly leave.
Kevin Turner, a geotechnical engineer with Westrek Geotechnical Services, said Testalinden Creek is still a dangerous area.
“We advise that everyone stay well away from the creek,” he said.
That warning extends to all public and private lands near the creek.
The general public is also asked to stay away from the affected area unless absolutely necessary.
Residents are also expressing concerns about area security and have told RCMP they are worried about theft.
“I conveyed that ‘patrols are stepped up,’” said Moskaluk, after a report of a red Honda Rubicon ATV was reported stolen from one of the victims.
A trust account has been set up for donation to help affected residents and land owners. Donations can be made in person across Canada at any CIBC during business hours by asking to place money in the “RDOS trust account for Testalinden Mudslide Relief.”
Interior Health has issued a water quality advisory to those holding individual water licences and shallow wells in the area of the mudslide from Road 15 south to Osoyoos.
All licences and affected groundwater wells that use intakes located downstream or near Testalinden Creek, the Okanagan River channel and related oxbows, and Osoyoos Lake may have increased turbidity or cloudiness, states the advisory.
Interior Health is recommending water be boiled for one minute prior to use.
Trucks began moving debris and mud from the site of the slide to a location north of Osoyoos across Hwy. 97 from Sandhu Greenhouses early last week.
Osoyoos residents who live near the dump site, Iris Roy and Chris Gadsby, are worried by reports that the muck could be contaminated by pesticide, herbicides and even diesel fuel.
They said they fear such contaminants could be seeping into Strawberry Creek and Osoyoos Lake.
But RDOS director Allan Patton (Area C) said even though the B.C. Ministry of Environment has put out an alert that persons should watch for contaminants in the mudslide debris at the site of the slide, the dirt that is being trucked to the Osoyoos location is safe.
reporter@osoyoostimes.com