VIDEO: Kelowna residents wake up to flooding and evacuations

A flash flood on Mill Creek has some Kelowna residents flooded out this morning. The flooding happened suddenly, with the earliest reports coming shortly after 3:00 am.

"I took a look out my window at 3:10," said Scott Thompson at the Shaugnessy Apartments on Sutherland Avenue. "All that parking lot had filled up and it was starting to pour into our parkade underneath the building."

It wasn't long before some of the ground floor units were hit with about a foot of water pouring in.

"At five o'clock this morning I heard knock, knock on the door and they said 'get out', and evacuate because we're flooding," said Hans Gloslee who lives at the Sheriton Apartments on Rowcliffe Avenue.

"I think the whole bottom floor is flooded and there's a couple of ladies from here that got to get everything replaced," said Gloslee.

John Caspers set up pumps and managed to successfully protect his Continental Manor, but a lot of his neighbours were not so lucky. Nearby Marshall Street is covered in water. "Most of them have sandbags up now, they're sandbagging," said Caspers.

"A lot of them have their pumps running. But probably their crawl spaces and everything was flooding out."

Jason Marzanzik's house which sits on the banks of Mill Creek at the foot of Sutherland Avenue has a soggy backyard but escaped any serious flooding. "I've got a few sump pumps running that keeps the water out of the house," he said. He's seen flooding in his neighbourhood 3 of the last four years. "Hopefully it's not the new normal."

The incident is being blamed on heavy rain and blockages along Mill Creek.

Crews worked overnight to clear debris from creeks as rainfall and debris was collecting under private footbridges in the area. Divisional Infrastructure Director Alan Newcombe told KelownaNow that those privately built structures can be a big problem. "We need to take a look at that," he said, "to either have them removed or modified."

Officials are describing the flooding as localized, but it's affected areas from Bulman Road which is closed, to the apartments hardest hit between Sutherland and Rowcliffe Avenues. Flooding has been reported in areas including Rowcliffe Avenue, Pacific Court, Buckland Avenue, Marshall Street and Elliot Avenue.