About half of the exhausted residents of Sicamous, B.C., chased out of their homes by a raging torrent of water over the weekend, were allowed to go home Tuesday.

The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District lifted the evacuation order covering homes in the Swansea Point subdivision Tuesday, where about 150 were forced out during a flash flood.

Chris Duffy, executive director of emergency co-ordination for Emergency Management BC, said residents of the Two Mile subdivision were still under orders not to return to their homes.

That evacuation order will remain in place until officials determine it's safe for residents to return. Residents of Swansea Point will remain under evacuation alert, he said.

About 350 people in the summer tourism town of 3,100, more than 340 km northeast of Vancouver, were ordered evacuated from their homes after flooding began in the Sicamous area over the weekend. Another 2,000 people in 675 homes remained prepared to evacuate, said Duffy.

Disaster recovery begins

A state of emergency was declared for homes in the area of 2 Mile Creek after flooding after a storm triggered a massive debris flow that washed away property and roads.

A cottage was pushed off its foundation, several dozen vehicles were submerged in a mudslide, and an asphalt road gave way to leave gaping holes that swallowed vehicles.

Duffy said he has not seen any field reports on the cause of the flash flood, but geotechnical and hydrological specialists flew over the creek Monday. He said he could see some indication on Tuesday of the cause, a key part in allowing officials to lift the evacuation orders.

In parts of Sicamous, locals canoed through parking lots, removing possessions from otherwise inaccessible homes.

A water ban was put into effect after a 20,000-litre gas tank toppled into Mara Lake, the major water body where many high-end cottages are located. Beaches normally filled with tourists were under water.

Duffy said insurance won't cover all the damage and losses caused by the flooding, but the provincial government has a program to help.

The province is expected to receive an application from local officials under the Disaster Financial Assistance Program.

"It's important to note, though, that this is not a complete or in any way comprehensive insurance program," Duffy said.

"It is simply an assistance program to help restore essential items."

The Disaster Financial Assistance Program team will attend the next public meeting to help walk people through the process, he said.

Business bogged down

Up until this past Saturday, Andre Robert was eagerly awaiting marrying his fiancee in December in Hawaii.

Then the rain started, and within two hours and a 15-centimetre jump of water, the couple's plans washed away along with large swaths of their town.

The flooding halted the 29-year-old's boat rental business just as the seasonal boom was about to go full throttle.

"We can go do the cheapy justice of the peace kind of thing, but we were hoping to go to Hawaii and elope on the beach there somewhere," Robert said.

"I told her if I don't have any money it's pretty hard to get married."

Sicamous residents' livelihoods are usually propelled by 100 days between June and September, when tourists and vacationers flock to Shuswap Lake.

The floods have stalled start-of-summer business for the marinas, boat and houseboat rental outlets. Local hotels, floating grocery stores and spin-off shops are suffering, too, and all say they haven't experienced such conditions in years, if ever.

"This is going to be outrageous, it's a little scary," Robert said.

"Now, we're going to be cut down to about 30 days in August. There's a ripple effect for everybody in the community."

Kootenay waters rising

Sicamous was the hardest hit of a series of B.C. communities in B.C.'s Okanagan and Shuswap areas, in the Kootenays, and in the Fraser Valley region, where flooding is either keeping residents away from their homes or forcing them to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

In southeastern B.C., 35 homes in the Creston area were placed on evacuation alert Tuesday.

Doug Lundquist, an Environment Canada meteorologist, said before the current storm leaves the Kootenays, between 30 and 50 millimetres of rain could fall, and even more could fall at higher elevations.

Dave Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre, said flooding could become an issue in the extreme southeast corner of the province because of those heavy rains.

Officials have said Kootenay Lake is expected to peak by the end of the week and forecasters say the lake could reach a height not seen in half a century.

Saskatchewan is lending resources and expertise to B.C. to help deal with the wide-spread flooding.

Three emergency services officers and an eight-person rapid response team has arrived in Chilliwack with equipment, including eight kilometres of flood barriers, five automated sandbagging machines and pumps.