'Very active' landslide near Valemount puts seniors' home, residences, businesses on evacuation alert
Drinking water for village and pipeline work camp could be cut off, even though risk appears to be decreasing
Officials in the mountain village of Valemount, B.C., are monitoring a "very active" landslide that could cut off the drinking water supply for about 2,000 people and create a destructive debris flow.
Forty properties in one area of the village, including a senior citizens' home, private homes, a BC Hydro works yard, a hotel, liquor store, pizzeria and a water distribution business were all put on evacuation alert Thursday afternoon, even though officials say the risk appears to be abating.
The landslide is located above Swift Creek, around three kilometres from the northern boundary of Valemount, which lies around 260 kilometres southeast of Prince George, B.C.
On Tuesday morning, the slide was about 200 metres from Swift Creek, the village's sole source of drinking water.
But Wayne Robinson, chief administrative officer for the Village of Valemount, said the land had started moving horizontally instead of down toward the creek, and said a destructive slide is now "not very likely."
"The landslide's footprint more than doubled in just two days, but seems to have slowed down a bit," Robinson told CBC News.
Still, the village wants people to be prepared to leave their homes and businesses at a moment's notice.
Robinson says the village is carefully monitoring the situation in case the slide blocks the creek, cutting off the drinking water supply and causing a build-up of rocks, mud, and water that could potentially destroy homes and businesses downstream.
"It would be very serious," Robinson said.
Trans Mountain work camp affected
People in the area are also being advised to plan to use different water sources.
Swift Creek provides drinking water for about 1,000 residents of the village, as well as hundreds of tourists visiting the area and more than 600 people at a Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion work camp.
Trans Mountain has provided 24-hour security crews to monitor the creek and watch for any blockages, said Robinson.
Officials don't yet know what triggered the slide, but say the rugged area has been unstable since long before the village was founded.
Valemount lies around 30 kilometres from Mount Robson Provincial Park, where in early July a dramatic flood and debris flow shut down the renowned Berg Lake backcountry trail and forced the evacuation of about 40 hikers, some by helicopter.