Nearly a year after the devastating landslide which destroyed two houses along Sunnybrae-Canoe Point road on April 7, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District is preparing to map the mountain it originated on in hopes of preventing or minimizing the effects of future slides.
Derek Sutherland, the regional district’s protective services team leader, said a $150,000 grant from the Union of BC Municipalities will make possible Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) mapping of Mount Bastion above Sunnybrae-Canoe Point Road. The mapping will plot the locations of water courses, alluvial fans and other terrain features and allow the CSRD to do a landslide risk assessment of the entire area.
Sutherland says the mapping project is in response to the two serious landslides along the road last spring and another in 2014.
A number of properties near the sites of last year’s slides remain on evacuation alert and one property is still on evacuation order.
Sutherland said a geologist reviewing the site of the landslide that came down in April last year still has concerns. He said it is possible that debris uphill from the properties damaged by the the April 7 slide could still come down. He added there are no such concerns of remaining debris at the site of the May 6, 2017 slide which took the life of 76-year-old Roy Sharp.
Those who live at properties on evacuation alert do so with the understanding that they have to be ready to leave if conditions change and the alert is upgraded to an order.
Sutherland said there are no other areas of the CSRD exhibiting an immediate risk for landslides at this point, but risk analysis will be undertaken in several other areas to identify any potential problems.
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