Campers stranded after massive B.C. landslide

Officials at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort say they’re now cleaning up Sunday’s massive landslide in southeastern British Columbia.

Director of Sales and Marketing, Marke Dickson, says as of Monday morning, 500 campers and 150 vehicles remain stranded after water washed away the road to their RV Park.

“It’s isolated the park from the rest of the world at this stage and that’s our major concern this morning,” he says.

Water levels have gone down and heavy machinery has been diverted to the road in hopes of resolving the situation.

He says it’s unclear how long these guests, many believed to be Albertans, will be stranded.

“The good news in all of this is that we had a number of employees in the park at the time, so they’re working with the guests and helping them out,” says Dickson. “Of course these people are self-contained, so it’s actually a pretty calm scene over there today.”

The slide happened around 4:20 p.m. MST, when lifeguards sounded the siren to evacuate the area and find shelter.

Dickson says first-responders were on the scene very quickly and damage was contained to a nearby canyon and the golf course.

Many of the homes there were evacuated and residents have since been allowed to return.

Highway 93/95 was closed for two hours and has since re-opened.

In Invermere, an employee at Smoking Waters Coffee Co. tells 660News it’s the worst she’s ever seen.

“(The river) looked pretty muddy but I haven’t seen the golf course, but from what I heard it’s pretty bad,” says McKenna Lang. “It took out a couple units at the Mountainside Villa.”

There were no injuries, but the RCMP had to rescue one person by helicopter.

A pedestrian bridge was washed away and one chopper remained on stand-by to help fly campers out, if necessary.

RCMP had to send resources from Johnson’s Landing, where Corporal Dan Moskaluk says rescue efforts there are now a recovery operation.

The body of one man, believed to be 60 year old Valentine Webber, was found Sunday.

Three women, including Webbers two daughters, remain unaccounted for.

Mounties say after Thursday’s slide, it’s very unlikely at this point they will find anyone else alive.

The two slides are being blamed on heavy rain and a late snow melt in the region.

Officials say water levels are the highest they’ve seen in 40 years.

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