Optimism builds in B.C.'s Kootenay Boundary region as flooding recovery continues

Officials are hopeful B.C.'s Kootenay Boundary region will soon return to normal after historic flooding evacuated homes and shuttered businesses over recent weeks.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary said approximately 900 people were still under evacuation orders Monday morning.

Dan Derby, emergency operations centre director for the region, says at the height of the flooding, 3,000 people were forced out by the orders.

"It's going pretty good. Yesterday we were able to rescind about 1,000 properties across the Boundary from evacuation order," Derby told On The Island host Gregor Craigie.

"We'll continue to process more rescinds today as we complete the rapid damage assessments of all the impacted areas."

Derby said Monday's forecast looked "really positive" region-wide.

Officials plan to remove a temporary dam installed in downtown Grand Forks to get businesses re-opened as soon as possible.

Crews have been examining evacuated homes to quickly assess whether they will be livable once residents return to them.

While the situation does not appear to be getting worse, it's not getting much better for some. 

Mary Jean Grant and her husband are still living what she calls "a nightmare" in nearby Christina Lake.

"It's been pretty tough," Grant said. "I've been going to work every day and my husband's been home. We have our own business in Grand Forks — which is also flooded."

Grant told her story standing outside a trailer park where mobile homes were sitting about 50 centimetres deep in the floodwater. Her home is on the other side of it.

What used to be a two-minute walk is now a 10-minute trip by kayak.

With files from Jesse Johnston and CBC Radio One's On The Island