KIRKLAND LAKE - Recent flooding has caused more damage than initially thought, says Kirkland Lake’s mayor.
Within the past 24 hours, a roadway in Nettie Lake has been discovered to be more saturated than the town expected. Mayor Stacy Wight said they plan to remain in a state of emergency for the foreseeable future.
“As the day's roll on, we're actually seeing more damage than we initially thought,” Wight said.
The town is monitoring roadways and waterways daily, Wight said.
“We do have, of course, a couple areas of concern, including the Rand Avenue and Prince Street areas, Allen Avenue area, and now a roadway in Nettie Lake as well has been discovered as being saturated. So we're monitoring that,” she said.
The town has been under a state of emergency since April 12, when creeks overflowed and overloaded the town's sanitary system. The sewer infrastructure is operating normally again.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) is visiting Kirkland Lake on Thursday (April 25) to assess the damage and will determine whether the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance (MDRA) and the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO) programs will be initiated or not.
“We continue to encourage members of the community that have suffered damage to call the fire department if they're willing to have the ministry come in and assess the damage in their homes," she said.
“Or if they have any photos they're willing to share with the ministry regarding the flooding event, we strongly encourage them to share that as well with the municipality.”
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At least 140 homes were affected and 12 residents were displaced after Hydro One disconnected power for health and safety reasons.
It’s vital community members continue to report if they have been impacted, Wight said.
“We don't have any solid numbers. What the staff are doing is getting all the locations that are reported to the town through the fire department's number, through the initial 200 or so calls that came in on that Friday, as well as people attending the landfill,” she said.
“What they're doing is superimposing all those addresses onto the Kirkland Lake map so we can actually get really solid data of where those issues were.”
On April 15, the town called an emergency council meeting to approve waiving its landfill tipping fees for hazardous waste stemming from the crisis.
The town is also looking for volunteers, particularly people with a truck or trailer, to help residents bring waste from the flood to the landfill.
To volunteer, call the fire hall at 705-567-3000 extension 2. Residents willing to participate in the site visit or share their visual documentation of damage incurred can call the same number.
“The state of emergency is ongoing until all the assessments have come through, until the ministry has come, and until staff and administration are confident that there will be no further damage through rain events,” Wight said.
