Williams Lake, B.C., declares state of local emergency, 4 homes evacuated over fears of structural integrity

Four homes in a Williams Lake, B.C., group of duplexes have been ordered evacuated and the remainder are on evacuation alert over concerns about their structural integrity.

In a statement late Friday, the city says it's declaring a state of local emergency as a "precautionary measure" related to the complex known as Terra Ridge.

Emergency operations director Evan Dean says the four properties were initially issued "do not occupy" orders on Sept. 15 in response to an engineering report procured by the strata.

He says the report focused on the units' structural integrity and found that they were not habitable.

Dean says the city will now bring in a geotechnical engineer and get a structural assessment done on all 80 units in the complex.

He says the evacuation alert was put in place so that everyone in the complex would be aware of what is going on and not caught off-guard.

The city says it has notified all relevant agencies and is working with provincial emergency management to address the situation.

WATCH | Williams Lake councillor speaks about the state of emergency:

Williams Lake councillor speaks about the state of the local emergency

11 months ago

Duration 1:05

The local emergency was declared after concerns about the structural integrity of homes in the complex known as Terra Ridge. Coun. Sheila Boehm says the complex is on an "ancient landslide," which is part of a wider problem in the district.

Complex is on an 'ancient landslide'

Coun. Sheila Boehm says the issues at Terra Ridge are not new and officials at various levels are looking for some kind of long-term solution.

She said she's been informed the complexis on an "ancient landslide" and water is flowing into the land.

"We actually had a building in the vicinity of that area that has been uninhabitable for a while," Boehm said.

"There's no perfect science on land movement and so we've just been working, trying to get answers for [residents]."

She says it's a wider problem in the district.

"There's water that changes the land pretty much all around Williams Lake, so we try to watch all the time on what's moving," she said.

"There is lots of slides and even in our River Valley we had to do some major upgrades as well there."

Boehm said as far as she is aware, the residents of the four homes under evacuation order have left and have found someplace to go for the time being.

She said the district is working with other levels of government to find a way to shore up the land the development sits on.

"It just seems like, with everything else, with climate change, things are moving and shifting as time goes on," she said.