British ColumbiaThe immediate risk of failure at a dam northeast of Kamloops has been reduced after crews managed to clear blocked culverts that had raised water levels in Fadear Lake, according to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Dam near Fadear Creek Road no longer at immediate risk of failureCBC News · Posted: Oct 12, 2025 2:50 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoAn image of a dam on Fadear Lake on Oct. 8, 2025. An evacuation alert issued last week for 14 properties nearby has been rescinded. (Thompson-Nicola Regional District)Residents of several properties in B.C.’s Interior have been given the all-clear after concerns they would have to evacuate last week due to the potential failure of a man-made dam.An evacuation alert was issued on Oct. 6 for 14 rural properties along Fadear Creek Road after the regional district warned of an “imminent failure” at the man-made gravel dam located at the north end of Fadear Lake where it drains into Fadear Creek. The alert has since been rescinded.Crews eased the urgent threat of the dam’s failure by clearing debris from blocked culverts that had raised water levels in Fadear Lake, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District says. Officials say water is now flowing freely and there is no longer a risk of the dam being overtopped.Colton Davies, communications manager for the TNRD, said earlier this week the concern was that if water spilled over the top, it could erode the dam’s surface and cause it to collapse.Residents living downstream can expect higher water flows along Fadear Creek as the lake drains, but the district says those flows are not expected to exceed normal seasonal levels.According to Davies, the province alerted the district to the issue, and described the dam as “unauthorized.””I suppose that means there’s no permits,” Davies told CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops. Davies said it’s “definitely an unusual situation” to see an unauthorized dam, and the regional district isn’t sure who built it since dams are under the jurisdiction of the province. The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said in a statement that there was another unauthorized dam in the same area that caused downstream damage in 2023. With files from Jenifer Norwell and Daybreak Kamloops
Evacuation alert for rural properties near Kamloops, B.C., rescinded as crews clear debris from man-made dam
