There is an immediate need for volunteers to fill sandbags, says the co-chair West Carleton Disaster Relief, and it can't wait for the weekend.
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For the third time in six years, Stéphane Blais is working to hold back the flood waters outside his office on Rue St-Louis in Gatineau, only a block from the Gatineau Riiver.
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Loads of sand were ordered and a backhoe was called in to build a dyke around the building. Still, Blais has been amazed at how quickly the water has risen over the past three days.
When he went to work on Tuesday, his boots were adequate to get him down the street. By the end of the day, the flood water went over the tops of his boots. On Wednesday morning, he was wearing the hip waders he bought for the 2019 flood.
Blais said has heard that the water may rise by another 30 centimetres by the end of this week. He hopes it won’t get any higher.
“It went up so fast that we were in trouble,” he said. “The other two times, we at least had time to think.”
On the Ontario side and far to the west near Fitzroy Harbour, Mike Vallianatos had the help of friends put up a wall of sandbags about two weeks ago to protect his home on the Ottawa River on Moorhead Drive. Some properties on the other side of the street, closer to the Ottawa River, are completely surrounded by water.
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Typically, the edge of the water is about 30 metres away from the back deck of Vallianatos’s property.
During the 2019 flood, the water was lapping the top of the deck. On Wednesday, the water was about a metre from the tops of his wall of sandbags—still have a long way to go to hit 2019 levels.
According to the authorities who monitor the situation, water levels will taper off in the next few days. Vallianatos hopes they’re right.
“I’m trying not to listen to rumours,” he said. “If I listen to rumours, I’m going to panic.”
Across the region, residents in waterfront communities were scrambling to protect their homes and hoping for the best.
According to the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board, flows and levels on the Ottawa River will continue to rise due to increased runoff from significant rainfall over the weekend. On the plus side, Environment Canada has forecast only a chance of showers for Thursday and Friday, followed by a series of warm, sunny days.
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Levels were expected to peak on Wednesday or Thursday from Mattawa east to Chats Lake, near Arnprior, according to the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board. Meanwhile, levels should peak Thursday or Friday from Lake Deschenes down to the Hawkesbury and Grenville area.
Levels should remain below the historical levels of 2019.
Mattawa and Pembroke are now expected to slightly exceed the major flood threshold, defined as the level at which one or several streets are beginning to flood, with several houses or buildings or neighbourhoods being affected, according to the planning board.
The City of Ottawa said its staff continue to monitor the situation and is working with community volunteers to fill and deploy sandbags as well as stock sandbag stations for neighbourhoods that need them. Firefighters are also conducting safety checks in some neighbourhoods.
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In Gatineau, firefighters are visiting shorelines property owners and the Jean-René Monette community centre has been opened for flood victims.
On Wednesday, volunteers were filling sandbags from a small mountain of sand in the community centre parking lot in Constance Bay.
Heather Lucente, co-chair of West Carleton Disaster Relief, a volunteer group formed after the 2018 tornado in Dunrobin, said a number of homes in Constance Bay and Dunrobin are facing encroaching floodwaters.
“We do have really critical areas,” she said. “We have a lot of homes that are surrounded (by water) or nearly surrounded. We have homes that are at risk of having their gas and potentially their electricity shut off. There are about 50 right now, and those numbers are going up pretty quickly.”
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Many of the affected Constance Bay properties are on Bayview Drive, including some that are on the side away from the water.
“There are a lot of properties that are inland that are flooded quite badly,” said Lucente. “We want to make sure we get support to those houses. If their gas and hydro are cut off, they can’t run their pumps.”
There is an immediate need for volunteers to fill sandbags, she said, and it can’t wait for the weekend. If there are enough volunteers, they can help build sandbag walls. To get more information about locations where volunteers are needed, visit westcarletondisasterrelief.ca
How bad is compared to the floods of 2017 and 2019? “There is no forecast that is going to bring us to that level at this point,” said Lucente.
“We’re worried we might hit the 2017 level. But that’s still another 15 to 20 centimetres above what they are forecasting for tomorrow (Thursday).”
'It went up so fast': Waterfront communities all over Ottawa-Gatineau region preparing for flooding - Ottawa Citizen
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