The community has come together over the past few weeks, helping each other through the storms.
And those who are calling Hope home temporarily have been in and among the helpers. When east Kawkawa Lake homeowner Keith Lohnes saw his and his neighbours’ homes being inundated with flowing water, he put the call out on Facebook for help.
That post was seen by someone from Macro, the contractor working with Trans Mountain. They’ve been unable to work due to the floods and slope instability, so were able to quickly jump into action.
They headed down to the area to find out what was needed. Duane Dion said they were happy to get busy. They ordered two loads of sand and gave one of them to the town. They filled hundreds of bags for the east Kawkawa Lake area, and moved them into place to divert the overflowing water into a stream.
That stream works its way past several homes, and cuts between Lohnes home and his neighbour’s which is a vacation spot.
The impromptu crew worked late into Sunday night as the rain beared down, and then returned Monday morning to finish the job. When that was done, Lohnes and his wife fed the happy crew of men and women sandwiches and beverages as they all surveyed the good results.
“We hope we did okay,” Dion said, smiling.
Many residents worked hard Sunday and Monday to prepare for incoming water. The district set up a sandbag station at the baseball diamonds and provided bags and shovels for people to use. There was a steady stream of people helping others and filling bags, putting them into vehicles and heading off to shore up various properties.
There is also sand available during business hours at the district public works building on Old Hope-Princeton Highway, beside Mountainview Brewing.
Should the supply need to be replenished, residents can call 604-869-6020.
@CHWKcommunity
jessica.peters@hopestandard.com
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