An Emergency Reception Centre has been activated at the Princeton Baptist Church (160 Old Hedley Road in Princeton) to provide emergency support services for anyone whose primary residence is on evacuation order from the rock slide that took place west of Keremeos on Sunday night.
The evacuation order was issued on Monday, Nov. 6, at 12:30 a.m. for two properties located at 3455 and 3491 Highway 3, west of the Village of Keremeos. The rock slide between Hedley-Nickleplate Road and Ashnola Road took place around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. The slide knocked out power to dozens of homes in Keremeos.
Highway 3 remains closed in both directions. According to DriveBC, the next update on the highway isn’t until Tuesday at 1 p.m.
⛔UPDATE - #BCHwy3 CLOSED 3-9km west of #Keremeos due to a rock slide. Detour available via #BCHwy3A, #BCHwy97, #BCHwy97C, #BCHwy5a. ℹNext update 1pm Tue Nov 7: https://t.co/xXVlkodqSv
— DriveBC (@DriveBC) November 6, 2023
A geotechnician will assess the situation to determine next steps, said the RDOS emergency operations centre. There is currently no timeline on when the evacuation order will be rescinded or downgraded to an evacuation alert.
If you are in an evacuation order area, please consider making arrangements to stay with family or friends, said the RDOS.
Residents under the order can call 250-486-1890 for ESS Services. Evacuees can self-register online through Evacuee Registration & Assistance (ERA): ess.gov.bc.ca.
DriveBC has no estimate for when the highway might reopen and its proposed detour involves a route through Merritt and West Kelowna, adding more than 300 kilometres to the journey.
READ MORE: Rock slide west of Keremeos causes power outage, evacuations