CONSTANCE BAY PREPS, EYES WIDE OPEN
In 2017, four homes were destroyed by spring flooding in Constance Bay, dozens more were damaged and this shoreline community spent a nerve-racking week under siege from the Ottawa River, at its most swollen.
This spring will be different — eyes are wide open.
On a gorgeous April day when the river was calm but still rising, Janice Wallace took off her work gloves and pulled out her cellphone in the laneway of her home on Bayview Drive, the village’s waterfront arterial.
“You can see the water came up to the third board on the deck,” she said, referring to the 2017 flood that left the three-bedroom house marooned on an island — the water so deep she needed hip waders to reach the road and a canoe to ferry husband Rob to his car.
And so, she and daughter Elisha, an off-duty police officer, were busy stacking sandbags three or four rows high around the house, while a pump was draining the four-foot crawl space out a ground-level window. The sand wall will be built to the 2017 high-water mark, a flood that knocked out the gas service and put the well temporarily out of commission.
(The prediction Monday was that Ottawa would peak at Constance Bay on or about Saturday, but be roughly 25 cms — a whole foot — lower than the 2017 levels.)
Wallace said she and her son began sandbagging on Saturday and she was very grateful for the volunteers who prepared the sandy sacks at the nearby community centre.
“If you know this is going to happen, then prepare. They’re giving you enough time. They’re giving you the opportunity to secure your house.”
That advice was echoed by West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry who was in a plaid shirt and rubber boots just up Bayview, speaking to a resident who is battling to maintain dry access to his house.
“Personally, I would err on the side of caution, because you just don’t know,” said Chantiry, when asked the sandbag or not-sandbag question. (Constance Bay is basically a giant sand pit, so getting rid of the sand later is hardly a problem.)
“Honestly, keep an eye on the measurements and the (online) postings. I just want my residents to be prepared. In 2017, we were putting sandbags in two feet of water and it was a losing battle.”
Constance Bay, about 50 kilometres west of downtown, is particularly susceptible to flooding because this is one of the widest parts on the 1,200-km length of the river and, in places, possesses ankle or knee-deep water for hundreds of feet before dropping off into the channel. So a sharp rise in elevation sends the river a long way towards houses, cottages and roads.
Chantiry said the City of Ottawa is also better prepared this time and said 280,000 sandbags were ordered, 60,000 extra. He credited the volunteer support and said the Salvation Army comfort vehicles have been on hand since Day 1. He pointed to the massive size of the Ottawa River basin, which not only drains huge northern reservoirs but accepts outflows from 16 major tributaries, like the Mississippi, Madawaska, Rideau and Gatineau.
“Residents are taking it seriously, especially those who’ve been through this in 2017.”
At the community centre on Len Purcell Drive, about 20 volunteers were on hand Monday, shovelling sand into white and green bags, hundreds of which awaited take-away. Among the helpers were Vera Vorel and her daughter, Martina, 37, wearing winter boots and black yoga pants. Vera said her property in Dunrobin was among 50 or more badly damaged in the violent tornadoes that decimated the heart of the village in September and she was the beneficiary of much volunteer help with the cleanup, like 60 fallen trees.
“It’s community. You have to pay it forward.”
Though it was Shelley Welsh’s 48th birthday, the hockey mom brought her son Blake and other members of the West Carleton Warriors to help sandbag. The peewee team’s moment of fame was capturing the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup in March and donating the $100,000 to Dunrobin tornado relief.
Six or seven of the 11 and 12-year-olds were on scene, wearing their Warriors colours. Parent Kim Wood, with her son Zach, said we should expect to hear about more Warriors fundraising soon.
“It’s community-building, 100 per cent. They need to know that they need to help people,” said Welsh. “It’s been a whirlwind kind of season. They’ve learned way more off-ice than they have on the ice.”
And one more lesson this year: better safe and dry than wet and sorry.