Demolition crews have begun the final stage of a massive BC Hydro buyout in Jordan River.
A house was torn down on Tuesday and soon majority of the homes along the Hamlet waterfront will be gone.
In 2014, BC Hydro did an “exhaustive” study of all its facilities across the province to determine how they would hold up in a major seismic event.
It found the hydro dam above the tiny hamlet is the most likely to break if a major earthquake hit.
“If something happened, we get a major earthquake of an eight or nine event, there’s a strong possibility that our facility could fail,” BC Hydro’s Ted Olynyk said.
The power company notified homeowners in the area of the safety risks and offered to buy the houses at market value.
“We know we’re going to get a major earthquake event here, the question is when,” Olynyk said.
Ten of the 11 property owners accepted the deal, two have moved their houses to higher ground.
Hugh Pite says he intends to keep his vacation home exactly where it is.
“Susan next door here put up a spray painted sign saying ‘Jordan River, thank you for the good times,’ it just sort of got to me a bit,” Pite said.
Although his neighbours are gone and nearby homes will soon just be a memory, the Vancouver Island man says the area isn’t entirely deserted.
“There’s probably well over 100 people half a mile away, up the hill so it’s not like I’m in the middle of nowhere,” Pite said.
BC Hydro says once the foundations have been removed, everything will be levelled with top soil and then seeded with grass.
A coffee shop and mill site will remain in the danger zone.
