Another piece of Salt Spring’s northern shoreline slipped into the ocean Tuesday afternoon following several days of heavy rains and during a storm event.
Caution tape has been placed along the roadside across from 560 Walker’s Hook Road. Neighbours say the slide that took out much of the high bank just beyond the road surface happened around 1 p.m. on Jan. 5. A mature maple tree that was at the top of the bank was taken down along with masses of earth and water, and for now remains standing upright at the waterline below.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is looking into the issue and is expected to provide information on a response plan in the coming days.
The last major slide in that area took out three sections of Walker’s Hook Road after heavy rains in January 2018. The road was closed to traffic for nine months while repairs took place.
Tuesday’s storm caused some wind damage to the island as well as heavy rain. Around 1,000 Salt Spring customers in the north end were without power for part of the afternoon, and Sunset Drive was closed due to a tree that fell across the road near Duck Creek Park. Other nearby outages put 4,450 households across the southern Gulf Islands in the dark, along with 1,750 customers in North Saanich.