A popular park and campground in the Fraser Valley has been damaged after a series of storms last month sent rushing water through the area.
Cultus Lake Provincial Park, located 11 kilometres southwest of Chilliwack, was hit hard by the heavy rainfall in mid-November. The wind sent trees tumbling.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment tells Glacier Media a number of sites within Cultus Lake Park have been damaged from erosion and debris flow.
"These include, but are not limited to, washed out access roads and sites within our campgrounds, and a debris flow event in one of our day-use areas,” says the spokesperson.
A nearby Chilliwack resident often visits the park, which is just 10 minutes from his home.
“One slide was probably 100 feet wide and sent about four feet of gravel,” says Trevor Carne.
He walked through the area and captured the destruction with a camera.
“It’s just apocalyptic, it’s just weird. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he says.
Picnic tables were buried under gravel with just the tops of them visible, Carne says, and thousands of trees have fallen.
"Just the amount of logs that have just washed up on the beach, like thousands, thousands of logs. They’ve piled them all up.”
The ministry spokespersons says BC Parks and contractors have completed emergency work required to minimize ongoing damage.
"We are undertaking assessments of the damage, gathering information and will begin planning for our recovery from the impacts over the days, weeks and months to come,” says the spokesperson.
Carne says a stream tore through the walkway to the park and Honeymoon Beach was extended with all the rocks coming down.
"It was just really eerie,” he says.
The ministry says it’s too early to say how long the repairs will take.
"We are still gathering information regarding the extent of the damage. We’ll have a better idea of how long the work will take after we gain a more fulsome understanding of the work required,” says the spokesperson.
Glacier Media reached out to Cultus Lake Waterpark and Cultus Lake Adventure Park to see if there was any damage but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
