Eastern Ontario battles rising water from icy river
Belleville residents brace for the worst, as spring run off leaves destruction in its wake
BELLEVILLE, ONT.— When Joseph Mallinson bought his house in 2006, he didn’t know it was in a floodplain. He does now. “This is my lawn,” he says, pointing to the murky water lapping at his rubber boots and threatening to leak through stacks of sandbags surrounding his home in Corbyville.
Mallinson, a locomotive engineer, says he’s lost 60 hours of work time battling the rising waters of the Moira River, which he estimates is more than two metres higher than normal. It was expected to reach the highest level it has been since 1981.
Residents along the river in Foxboro and Corbyville in the city of Belleville have been under siege for more than a week as spring runoff continues to push the icy water higher. States of emergency have now been declared in four municipalities, including Tweed and Centre Has- tings, and several roads have been closed.
Waterways are expected to peak soon but authorities were warning homeowners not to expect relief any time soon.
“The flooding situation will continue for several days,” Quinte Conservation Water Resources Manager Bryon Keene said on Thursday. Lower Trent Conservation was alerting residents in low-lying areas around Rice Lake and the Trent River to prepare for possible flooding as water levels continue to rise there.
Brent Bain’s worries are far from over in Foxboro, where his basement has been filled with 1.5 metres of muddy water since a back wall caved in on Sunday.
“I woke up to water coming up the stairs,” says the construction worker, keeping an eye on five pumps.
Like all the stricken residents in the area, he singled out the armies of volunteers who are helping them keep their heads above water. “I thank them a thousand times.”
More than 1,200 volunteers have pitched in, some from as far away as Kitchener-Waterloo and Durham Region, says Deborah Kinsman, emergency response co-ordinator for Hastings County. “It’s been tremendous. And there are lists and lists of donations, from food to trailers, equipment, water, fuel for the pumps — everything.” On Ashley St. in Foxboro, Elizabeth Ciaralli watches volunteers carry more 40-pound bags into the waterlogged backyard, where she’s been looking after “two girls, two dogs, three cats and a house” while the owners attended a wedding in Jamaica. “They’re coming back today,” she says. “I told them they’ve now got a pool in their backyard.” Down the road, which the rising river crossed during the night, Sue Harris is struggling to keep her chin up. “This is just brutal,” she says. “We can’t shower and the power’s off to the septic. It’s a full-time job watching the pumps and keeping the water away from the house.” Harris, who has owned her home for 23 years, recalls the last flood in 2008. “It can’t compare to this. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as this.”