A smelly river runs through it: Vernon couple seeks answers after flood hits property

Fred and Janet Nelson can't quite believe that their once green and pastoral property is now a giant mud pit.

"It looks like Vimy Ridge," said Fred.

Indeed, deep trenches now line the three-acre plot, freshly dug in an attempt to stave off an incursion of ground water and asurface creek that stared running through the Vernon hillside property two weeks ago, filling their home's crawl space.

"The water first flows through our neighbour's and they havea hugepile of sawdust and manure from their horse barns that this creek first flows throughbefore it hits us," said Janet.

"It was very smelly for a couple of days."

Bone dry for 14 years

The Nelsonssay the land has been bone dry for the entire 14 years they've lived thereand that the only thing that can explainthe sudden flooding is the new Boss Creek Development subdivision being built above them.

"As part of their plan, they have to provide for storm water runoff and they'vebeen cutting roads way up the hill,opening up natural groundwater drainage areas that are now flowing on the surface," claimedJanet.

A newly installed culvert can be seen dischargingwater above the Nelsons' property, but Boss Creek director Jim Pitre says it's all part of development plans that engineers and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure signed off on.

"It's a knee jerk reaction by people to say, what's changed? What's happened?It must be the people up the hill causing all the trouble.Well, it's not so," he said.

Pitrebelieves the Nelsons' trouble is the result of two factors months of heavy precipitation which has saturated the ground and the fact that they built on a dry gully.

'You can't do that'

"I really feel badly for the Nelsons but they built on very porous foundation materialwhich ismostly sand," he said. And then they built ... right across a major drainage that has been there for hundreds of years. You can't do that and not have problems."

The Nelsonssay they have spent thousands of dollars of their own money so far to save their house. Their insurerpulled out after it was determined some of the flooding was being caused by groundwater incursion.

$150Kor more

They've been quoted a figure of more than$150,000 to fully remediatetheir land.

Pitre says if anyone is to blame, it's those who originally OK'd the Nelson's building plans 14 years ago.

"Whoever it was who designed the house in combination with the North Okanagan Regional District whichgranted a building permit, they just shrug their shoulders and say, 'Oh well, anything to do with water and drainage and floods, we don't care.We don't regulate it.It's up to the individuals.'"

But Bob Flemingof the North Okanagan Regional District says Boss Creek needs to shoulder some of the blame because incomplete road and drainage work is exacerbating the problem.

"Any property owner doing development, whether a house or a full development, has the obligation not to make the situation worse for the people down slope of them," he said.

The Nelsons are in the process of hiring a lawyer.