Osoyoos Times – April 17, 2018
The Okanagan is receiving $1.45 million in federal and provincial funding to conduct floodplain mapping.
The funds were announced last week at a joint news conference in Kelowna with the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB), the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) and local government representatives.
The money comes from the federal government’s National Disaster Mitigation Program and the B.C. Community Emergency Preparedness Fund.
Floodplain mapping is important both for providing information about where communities should and should not be building, as well as where mitigation plans are necessary in already developed areas, said Anna Warwick Sears, OBWB executive director.
“The weather in the Okanagan is changing,” said Sears. “Last spring, we saw historic flooding in our valley, followed by a prolonged dry spell. Climate scientists have warned that extreme fluctuations are going to be more common.”