While many people have stepped up to lend their neighbours a hand, the City of North Bay has not had to enlist the help of volunteers at this time and an official call-out for volunteers will be made, if necessary.
The City is continuing to advise those in flood-prone areas to closely monitor conditions and take necessary actions to protect their properties.
The latest from the City of North Bay’s Communications Officer Gord Young:
- Potential for damage to shoreline properties is increasing as Lake Nipissing water levels continue to rise. The lake level now sits at 196.48 meters, up from 196.45 meters on Saturday, and is expected to rise daily by one to two centimetres over the next several days.
- It should be noted that there is a greater potential for damage to properties in low-lying areas along the Lake Nipissing shoreline and lower LaVase River should strong winds occur. A close watch on local forecasts and conditions is recommended.
- Public Works Canada is continuing to slowly open dams along the French River that control outflow from Lake Nipissing in order to alleviate some of the pressure. But inflows from precipitation events and snowmelt farther north still exceed what’s being let out of the lake. The situation is being reassessed daily.
- The City mobilized additional resources during the weekend to ensure as many sandbags as required are available to residents for the purpose of protecting their properties at filling stations at Public Works on Franklin Street, Sunset Park at the end of Sunset Boulevard and Champlain Park at the end of Premier Road.
- Prefilled sandbags are available at the Sunset Park and Champlain Park stations. Additional staff has also been assigned to help with lifting and loading, and deliveries are available for seniors and those without vehicles or who own only small vehicles. City staff will not place sandbags but will drop them in driveways.
- The filling stations are operating Monday to Friday, 8:00am until 8:00pm and Saturday and Sunday, 8:00am until 4:00pm. Sand and sandbags are provided free to residents for the purpose of protecting their properties. They should be used to reinforce breakwalls and to act as a barrier to prevent water from reaching
structures. The following link includes a video on how to properly use sandbags for flood prevention: https://youtu.be/oVQA-TPqtEQ. - One auxiliary pump at the Wastewater Treatment Plant is continuing to operate to help discharge fully treated wastewater into Lake Nipissing. Two other pumps are on standby if needed. Elevated lake levels can pose operational challenges at the Plant, which typically relies on gravity flow to discharge fully treated effluent. The pumps will assist the plant in operating as it normally would when the lake gets too high and that “down-hill” flow is lost.
- The North Bay Mattawa Conservation Authority is also continuing to operate the Parks Creek Backflood Control Structure, which helps prevent Lake Nipissing from backing up Parks Creek, protecting approximately 350 homes from flooding.
Residents are advised to stay away from watercourses where flows are high and where banks might be unstable. Parents are encouraged to keep children and pets away from watercourses and waterbodies.
Additional resources:
- Sandbagging – What you need to know https://quinteconservation.ca/site/images/stories/water/docs/how_to_sandbag.pdf
- Floods – What to do? https://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/flds-wtd/index-en.aspx
- Floods: Before, During & After https://www.redcross.ca/how-we-help/emergencies-and-disasters-in-canada/types-of-emergencies/floods
