“We are going to figure out what it’s going to take to put the tunnels back together and get our amazing guests from British Columbia and around the world back to the park,” says Wilson. Wilson hopes people will do the "right thing” and not draw on resources that are focusing on roads, homes and highways damaged in the storm. Anyone who tries to enter a closed provincial park can be fined up to $1,000,000 under the Park Act. "The water levels at some point in time were as high as the trestle.”īC Parks is asking the public to stay clear of damaged areas. He tells Glacier Media the trail to the tunnels was covered in six inches of mud and there were log jams and debris all over. "We went down and were pretty shocked by what we saw,” says Adam Szakall. Once it's safe, geotechnical engineers will access the site.Ī couple who was helping people move out of their flooded homes on Othello Road captured some of the damage. "That means that over time, we will likely be able to put the gravel back on the floor of the tunnels and we’ll likely be able to rescale the area and make it safe to the public, but we are still in that damage assessment phase.” a lot of the gravel that formed the base that people walked along has been washed away,” he says, noting the granite structures of the tunnels are still intact. "I can tell you that the first two tunnels had a river running through. Slides and debris have caused the site to be unsafe and dangerous, he says.Ī formal assessment to determine the integrity of the tunnels can't be done yet. Wilson says safety prevention methods that are normally in place have been destroyed or have been compromised by the recent floods. The tourist attraction is closed every winter. Today, the tunnels and the surrounding area are part of the provincial park. Wilson says there was also significant damage to the tunnels in 1994, but the damage from this storm cycle is "significantly worse.” Crews closed the line and never reopened it. 23, 1959, a 400-foot washout occurred just north of the tunnels. Unfortunately, the line was plagued with snow and rockslides. The Othello Tunnels, near Hope, became part of the Kettle Valley Railway.
Chief engineer Andrew McCulloch was tasked with building the railway over three major mountain ranges. The tunnels - hailed by some as an engineering feat - were built in the early 1900s by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).Īt the time, CPR wanted to link the Kootenay region with the B.C. "Even a small rock the size of a baseball could kill you if it lands on you,” he says. The tunnels have also seen significant destruction, Wilson adds, noting staff aren't sure when any of the rock cliffs surrounding the tunnels may shed another boulder. “There have been a number of large trees that have fallen from slopes above, indicating that there was probably a landslide in the area that washed the trees down onto the trail,” he says.
#OTHELLO TUNNELS SERIES#
tourist destination - have been significantly damaged after a series of storms caused enormous volumes of water to flow through Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park.īC Parks area supervisor Rob Wilson tells Glacier Media damage to the park is "quite extensive" and that "quite a bit" of the access road to the tunnels has been lost. Othello Tunnels is annually one of the top-10 most visited BC Parks.The Othello Tunnels - a popular B.C. Opened the 159 hectare park features five tunnels that were built in 1914 to accommodate the now-decommissioned Kettle Valley Railway. “This destruction is testament to how powerful this recent #BCStorm was.” “The Othello Tunnels have withstood 107 years of heavy train traffic, millions of people’s foot traffic, torrential rains, freezing winters and frozen water and ice expansion,” added Jarod McCullough. “We were just there in September – lots of new restoration work had been done.” “Oh no!” said Barbara Levesque, responding to Ingram’s tweet.
The closure had been caused by rock falls and landslides, described by BC Parks as “ongoing extreme hazards.” While Othello was open this past summer, concerns about geological instability previously had it shut down for over a year, from March 2020 until it re-opened in June 2021. The damage could keep the tunnels closed for a while. 17 by Tyler Ingram show a section of the popular tourist destination covered by water and debris, with massively heavy retaining blocks knocked loose.
The Othello Tunnels are in rough shape following this week’s flooding and landslides.
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