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Pembroke officials are advising residents along the Indian, Muskrat and Ottawa Rivers to be ready to deal with the possibility of spring flooding.
On Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m., the city issue a flood warning to all property owners along the Indian River within the municipal boundaries.
In a statement, Colleen Sauriol, community emergency management co-ordinator, said with the recent snow melt from the warmer temperatures, the flow has increased dramatically in the river, which could rise very quickly depending on rainfall.
“The potential for above-average flooding along the Indian River remains high,” she said, as well as the possibility of ice jams.
“The City of Pembroke reminds the public that spring water conditions pose a serious threat,” Ms. Sauriol said. “Water levels can rise in a short period of time and near-freezing water temperatures can quickly produce hypothermia.”
People were also advised to warn children to stay away from watercourses and ditches during this time, and everyone should stay off ice-covered bodies of water.
Earlier in the day, Terry Lapierre, city CAO, informed the planning and waterfront committee staff members have been meeting regularly to monitor the situation, as water levels rise steadily with the spring runoff approaching its peak.
“We are concerned about the horseshoe area” along the Indian River where it had flooded in 2005. The water is rising at a rate of 10 to 20 cm a day and there remains four feet of snow in Algonquin Park.
“There is a potential for flooding here,” Mr. Lapierre said. While noting the water courses are handling the spring melt, staff members are keeping an eye on river conditions and any presence of ice dams, which were blamed for the flooding in 2005.
“We can’t make the water disappear,” he said, but the city has been preparing just in case. Some 1,500 sand bags have been filled and are ready to be put into position if needed and another 10,000 have been ordered. One of the city’s trucks has been equipped with machinery to speed the filling of sandbags and sand has been set aside for that purpose.
“There is not an awful lot we can do, except ride it out,” he said. The CAO added it is the property owners’ responsibility to protect their land from being flooded, although the city will do what it can to support them, mainly by supplying sandbags.
Ms. Sauriol, who is also manager of the planning and building departments, said all landowners along the three rivers have been sent letters notifying them of the flooding potential, as well as sending them information on how to protect their shorelines.
She said staff members have been monitoring the river three times a day by making their way along the river banks and checking two water level gauges, one installed at the Christie Street bridge and the other located at the foot bridge at the end of Indian Lane.
Two electronic gauges are also in place on the Indian/Muskrat River system and the Ottawa River is monitored by the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board. That information can be found at its website at www.ottawariver.ca.
Along smaller water courses such as the Muskrat and Indian Rivers, the bigger risk is the formation of ice dams, much like the one which backed up the Indian River in April 2005. That one resulted in a state of emergency being declared within the City of Pembroke, as eight homes and the Children’s Garden Nursery School on Doran Street were flooded.
suhler@thedailyobserver.ca
Article ID# 978049