By Steve Hubrecht
It’s become an unpleasant summer routine for Columbia Valley residents to keep checking wildfire updates. Fires, either in the valley or elsewhere, have become so common that weeks of smoky-filled skies are now routine.
But wildfires are not the only extreme weather event to plague the valley with increasing frequency. In summer 2021 an unbelievable hour-long blast of torrential hail and rain hammered Invermere, flash flooding parts of town and creating a short-lived river swirling down main street. Last summer a pair of significant windstorms struck the valley, bringing down many trees and causing plenty of property damage.
Invermere officials hope to improve drainage across the district to mitigate or at least lessen the impact of such storms, particularly flash floods like that in 2021. The first step in that direction came during a recent community of the whole meeting, when planning consultants presented an integrated storm master plan to Invermere councillors.
The plan identifies 32 drainage problem locations in Invermere. These are mostly scattered throughout town, but there are a few spots where several are clustered close together: at the northern end of Upper Invermere (in the part of the community north of Sobey’s but perched above Athalmer and the Industrial Park); through the downtown core; and in the Wilder subdivision (where there are multiple “ponding” locations).
Suggested options to improve the situation include upgrading catchbasin systems and culverts to make them less prone to clogging; re-grading roads; putting in evaporative ditch systems in road right-of-ways; reconstructing roads with curbs and gutters; and increasing maintenance of catchbasins and drywells.
“There’s climate change and major storm events happening. We want to protect our community,” Invermere mayor Al Miller told the Pioneer. “There are a lot of low, flat areas in Invermere where we see small lakes gathering when we have these events.”
The integrated storm management plan is preliminary in nature, and just the start of a longer process.
“Now our team can take this plan and map out the next steps,” said Miller. He added it’s still too early to put a timeline to the project, but that it takes at least a year to figure out which parts of the plan should get the most priority and how to budget for them.
Miller said he’s not really surprised at the problem areas pointed out in the plan. “Anyone who’s been here for a while has seen the flooding that can happen here,” he explained, referencing the 2021 hail storm.
That particular event was much worsened by main street drains that were quickly overwhelmed, then blocked, outlined Miller, adding that’s exactly the kind of thing the district hopes to address with the plan.
“We want to get a good handle on all of this, figure out how do we deal with it,” he said.
Last summer’s windstorm struck the Columbia Valley, damaging trees and property.
FILE PHOTO
