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Sutherland Bay and Sarsons Park set to close next week for flood restoration work

Construction of new shoreline protection methods will help remediate further erosion

Sutherland Bay Park and Sarsons Park will be closed next week while city crews begin flood restoration work.

“In 2017, we had record high water levels in the lake. When the water came up that high with summer storms and wave action there was quite a bit of erosion along the beach fronts at several locations around the city,” said the City of Kelowna’s project manager, Fred Schaad.

Paving the boat launch and foreshore work will be done at Sutherland Bay Park. The Sarsons Park work will focus on damaged turf and beach area.

READ MORE: Construction begins on Glenmore Recreation Park

“We’re going to provide some shoreline erosion protection using bioengineering methods. We will be placing logs which will be anchored into the beach with cable that will be tied to rock that is buried into the beach itself. These logs and the shoreline protection measures will help to break the energy of the waves and prevent further erosion of the beach,” said Schaad.

READ MORE: Top videos for 2018: Okanagan floods

According to the B.C. River Forecast Centre, the snowpack for the Okanagan is well below normal as of April 1.

“With less snowpack, the risk of flooding is lower, but it doesn’t fully eliminate all the risk because what we have seen in the past is low snowpack but a heavy rain fall may come into affect and that is what we are going to watch for this season,” said Dave Campbell, the head of B.C. River Forecast Centre.

Construction of the work in both parks is expected to be complete by May.


@LarynGilmour
laryn.gilmour@blackpress.ca

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