As the water level rises, so does the frustration level for Mark Hoyles.
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Hoyles is frustrated that nobody is doing anything about his growing concern about the rising water level in Bottomless Pond in the Goose Arm area, where he has owned a cabin for the past five years.
“It’s right to the roof trusses now on most of the cabins,” Hoyles said.
Hoyles has been monitoring the water level since the spring, when the pond started to rise after a heavy rainstorm in January caused excessive flooding around the west coast.
Hoyles and a few of the cabin owners in the area have been monitoring the water levels throughout the fall. During the summer his cabin had 16 inches of water in it, but a week ago Hoyles checked on his property again and wasn’t pleased to see the water had risen to just 16 inches away from the roof trusses.
He considers himself one of the fortunate ones because he had been able to remove a lot of his belongings to a shed before it was too late, but the other cabin owners in the area, one of them is brother Melvin, lost everything before they could even think about retrieving any valuables.
Hoyles doesn’t like the fact there’s nobody in there monitoring it to try to find out what’s happening, why it’s happening and what could be the reality of it all if the pond doesn’t drain out.
“The biggest frustration we got is that there’s nothing being done,” he said.
He said he was in contact with officials with the provincial government over the summer to share his concerns and he sent photos of the water levels. He said he was told the government will have a look at the situation and would help in the search for land to build another cabin, but he hasn’t received a response to recent emails he sent.
“It seems like we’re being pushed on the backburner. It’s only five cabin owners, so don’t worry about it, right,” he said.
He said it would cost him $50,000 to $75,000 to find another block of land and replace his 28’ x 32’ cabin, but no matter what happens he won’t go back to Bottomless Pond.
“I don’t even want to be near that area right now because I don’t know where that water is going to go once she starts leaking out,” he said.
His biggest fear, though, comes in the realization that if it doesn’t start draining, the pond will have to rise about another 60 feet at its lowest point in order to drain anywhere.
“Once it starts running out, where’s it going? Who else is going to get the brunt of this?” he said.
