By Andru McCracken

On Friday afternoon, Dennis Kurylowich, the manager of Lakes District Maintenance was pleased to report that the river level at Dunster was down to 13 feet 7 inches after a high of 14 feet 3 inches the day before.

Beyond that, most of the creeks known to cause potential problems were running clear. Leona Creek, Spittal Creek, Cottonwood and Red Pass Creeks were running clear. Kurylowich said that if the creeks are running clear it means it isn’t cutting into the bank, or tearing out trees.

The one creek, which he said was still running muddy, was Goslin Creek. He said that it is positive that it is still running. If it dries up, it means that something is blocking the creek, causing it to build up and potentially bring down a slide.

Goslin Creek was the site of a major slide in 1993 where Highway 16 was washed out. Recently there has been some major remediation work done there (which is visible from the highway) to prevent a mudslide and direct raging waters parallel to the highway as opposed to across it.

A helicopter flew the creek earlier in the week and Kurylowich reported that it seemed to be in good shape.

He reported on Friday afternoon that a slide in the Raush Valley, which closed the road for two days, had been fixed up for local traffic only. “It is still not exactly safe if we get a tonne of rain,” he said.

His crews have fixed up a temporary solution, taking out a culvert on McFee Road. “We’re working on a better solution,” he said.

Kurylowich said that part of the reason more roads didn’t wash out was because of the dedication of local crews.

He also commended subcontractors who beat it up to an area to quickly deal with something, just for a few hours of work. “They’ve seen what can happen if you don’t catch it in time,” he said.

Kurylowich said that the flood had taken care of itself in some areas. For instance, the water on Hinkleman has receded, allowing a single lane of traffic through. Horseshoe Lake Road is still only open to local traffic.

He said Aslpaugh Road is still under water, and that a washout on Hargreaves Road has been fixed up so traffic can get into the campsite.

“It’s been a fun week or so. We hope it won’t rain again or get hot. A hot spell will not be good,” he said. “The snow packs are still 50% above average as of last night.”