Third landslide hits Kootenays
By C. Reynolds, creynolds@vancouversun.com
18 July 2012 Heavy rains caused mudslides and severe flooding in the West Kootenays on Tuesday, leading to evacuations and the temporary closure of Highway 3A in both directions just north of Castlegar. Set off by a thunderstorm, the slides occurred in the hamlet of Thrums late Tuesday afternoon. Mud, water and debris obstructed the highway, leaving no detours available, several homes at risk, businesses flooded and creeks overflowing, according to a Kootenay Boundary RCMP release. Residents in three homes closest to the slides were evacuated, said Frances Maika of the Central Kootenay Regional District. Facebook photos show Castlegar residents wading through flooded streets, front yards, an A&W drive-through and a Canadian Tire parking lot. One man was depicted rowing down a street in Nelson, where heavy rains also caused major flooding. […] The mudslides come two days after a slide at Fairmont Springs stranded 500 campers north of Cranbrook, and less than a week after a landslide ripped through Johnsons Landing, another Kootenays hamlet, burying homes and four people beneath a morass of mud, rocks, broken trees, and debris. All three slides occurred within 100 kilometres of each other, as mountain snow melt continues along with persistent warm weather across southern B.C.
