Landslide in White Rock forces people from their homes
Posted January 30, 2018 9:38 am.
Last Updated January 30, 2018 3:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WHITE ROCK (NEWS 1130) – Crews are blaming the recent heavy rain for a landslide in White Rock that forced a number of people out of their homes, including an apartment and condo building.
“Debris covered part of the first-floor patio for the building addressed on Victoria Avenue,” explains Deputy Fire Chief Ed Wolfe. “There was some potential for further expansion of the slide, so a geotechnical engineer was brought in to assess the area.”
That will take much of the day.
“I understand that four homes were forced to evacuate, while we determine what the situation was and how safe it was. Even though it’s on private property, it’s deemed to be a public issue,” says White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin.
“It’s just a matter of the overburden of the soil — getting super-saturated and it just slides right off the hardpan,” he adds.
No one was hurt.
Meanwhile, Amtrak service from the U.S. has been halted until tomorrow afternoon after a mudslide covered the tracks near the border.
Rocks and mud also came sliding down nine kilometres closing Highway 12 north of Lytton, causing drivers to take a lengthy detour through Cache Creek using Highways 1 and 99.
The District of Nanaimo has delivered sandbags to three rural firehalls as flood warnings, watches and high streamflow advisories remain in effect across Vancouver Island.
