'You come home and you sandbag': Kelowna residents prepare for more flooding

Late Thursday afternoon looked like just another gorgeous day on the waterfront trail in Kelowna, B.C.

It was warm as the sun shone on the people walking or cycling alongside Okanagan Lake and on parents driving home to smiling children — just another day in one of Canada's most popular vacation spots. 

But just a few blocks nearby, a group of sweaty volunteers and residents crowded around a pile of sand quickly and methodically filling bags to set around their homes, hoping to fend off the flood waters expected later that day. 

"We all feel a little bit strange pulling out the sand bags with the sun coming out," said Kim McDuff, whose parents live nearby on Burn Avenue. 

"But what we learned last weekend was it's a lot easier to do it now than it is to do it when the water's there." 

McDuff's parents' home was flooded last weekend when the nearby Mill Creek breached its banks.

Luckily for them it was just the basement that got hit. Had the water levels gone just a little higher, the main floor of their house would have gotten soaked too. Hence, McDuff has been filling sandbags for the last three days. 

"You basically you go to work, you work all day, you get off, you come home and you sandbag," she said.

Mill Creek was one of the main sources of damage in downtown Kelowna last week and it's expected to wreak even more havoc in the next few days. 

Heavy rain is expected throughout the Okanagan and much of the southern Interior. Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran is warning residents to expect water levels never seen before in their communities.

Despite the warnings and the dark clouds beginning to gather, not all residents felt the urge to pick up a shovel.  

Just up the street, Sandra Harwood was looking out at the volunteers from the balcony of her home. 

"I'm very optimistic," Harwood said.

"Worse things happen. It's just a little bit of water. Nobody died here."

Water from the creek didn't reach Harwood's home last week, and she doesn't expect it to in the next few days either, partly because her house is on slightly higher ground. 

That's not to say her basement didn't flood. About an inch of water came up through the floor, which is why she has prepared by clearing her basement. But sandbags won't help her much if it seeps through again.

Two doors down the road, Edith Gesch was also sitting on her balcony, sipping a beer. But she wasn't as optimistic as her neighbour.

"I'll still be bagging later," Gesch said. "I'm just stopping for the beer and just relaxing for a few minutes."

The basement of Gesch's home sustained serious flood damage last week. She said she's had to rip up all the carpets and flooring from her basement suite and fix a broken sump pump. 

"You know, we've already had the damage," she said. "It's already unlivable downstairs already."

Barely an hour later, it started to rain.