B.C. mudslide cleanup threatened by rain

Heavy rain in the forecast for B.C.'s South Okanagan region could delay efforts to clear debris from Highway 97 after it was closed by a mudslide on Sunday afternoon.

A work crew hoped to have Highway 97 cleared by Thursday, but it was raining Tuesday morning and Environment Canada was forecasting thundershowers for the afternoon,

Officials with the Ministry of Transportation said they will not be taking any chances, and will suspend the cleanup if necessary.

But crews have been posted in the mountains to watch for any signs of changes in the waterflow while the work continues on the road below.

Short detours around the closed section of Highway 97 will remain in place until the debris can be cleared, said officials.

Five houses were destroyed and two others were badly damaged when an irrigation reservoir high in the mountains near Oliver breached its earth embankment and flooded down onto the homes and farms.

The giant slide left a field of debris several hundred metres wide and several metres deep filled with cars, trees, houses and mud across several orchards, vineyards and the highway.

Orchard will take years to restore

Fortunately, nobody was injured in the mudslide, but many residents estimate their losses will run into the millions of dollars.

Hardeep Kehla and her family have been growing and packing their own fruit for more than a decade, but on Sunday many of their trees were buried in mud, and their fruit packing shed destroyed.

Kehla said the slide has caused at least a million dollars in damages that will take years to repair.

"Trees take five years to get full crop, and we had full-grown trees and our other orchard it was very, very nice — young trees ready for their first big crop," she said.

Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater said he's been in touch with Premier Gordon Campbell, who confirmed the province will chip in to help get farmers back in operation through the Provincial Emergency Program.

"We are going to pull out the stops. These farms are devastated. You can't operate a farm with five feet of mud on the surface," said Slater.

But Kehla said it's still not clear if the land will even be salvageable, once the mud is cleared from her orchard.

"How can you clean it all up, there's big boulders and the creek is diverted on our farm," she said.