[ryan29]

Flooding makes residents feel stranded

FRED THORNHILL FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Ian and Phyllis Phaure wade in front of their home in Peterborough County, April 14, 2008, where water levels along the Otonabee River keep rising because of the spring runoff.

'Nobody is going to help us, absolutely nobody'

Apr 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Jackson Hayes
Staff Reporter

Sitting on her front deck with floodwater climbing 60 centimetres up the side of her Peterborough-area home, Phyllis Phaure felt totally abandoned.

"I feel very alone, very frustrated and very, very angry," she said yesterday. "The municipality isn't going to help us, the provincial government, the federal government, nobody is going to help us, absolutely nobody."

With massive flooding of the Otonabee River in south Peterborough County this past week, Phaure and some of her neighbours on Greenwood Rd. are in the same boat, facing evacuation but with no place to go.

This is the fourth time this year these residents near the river's edge have been asked to evacuate because of dangerous water levels.

Rising waters forced the Phaures out three times in January and February for a total of 20 days, 11 of which were paid for by the municipal government. However, this time around the Phaures have been told financial aid will not be given. Meanwhile in the eastern Ontario community of Foxboro, neighbours and strangers alike continued to work side-by-side yesterday as the flood warning for the Moira, Napanee and Salmon river watersheds entered its sixth day.

Dozens of volunteers piled sandbags in preparation of the 15 centimetres the Moira River is expected to rise by tomorrow.

"It's been unbelievable how everyone's pulled together," said Foxboro resident Tim Harris, as he piled sandbags in the backyard of home late yesterday afternoon.

Ashley St., off Highway 62, was closed to traffic, but bustling with activity, as volunteers went from home to home to help residents prepare for more flooding.

Environment experts are blaming the high water levels in waterways and lakes throughout northern and eastern Ontario on the rainy and warm weather melting the remnants of this winter's near-record snowfall.

Some areas along the Severn River in Orillia are suffering the worst flooding in nearly 10 years.

According to Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson, the Muskoka area recorded more than 540 centimetres of snow this year, just shy of the all-time record set in 1943.

The melting snow has caused regional waterways like the Severn River in cottage country to swell.


With files from The Canadian Press

[ryan29]

lily wrote:

Quote:

Some areas along the Severn River in Orillia are suffering the worst flooding in nearly 10 years.

THe worst in 10 years? In other words, flooding is not unexpected in that area.

You buy or build on a flood plain, you can't really complain when you get wet.

well i agree alot of these rivers seem to flood every spring at this time or maybe usually a little earlier . some are pretty high but anyone who built recently rate beside them was foolish .

[BlueMan]

lily wrote:

Quote:

Some areas along the Severn River in Orillia are suffering the worst flooding in nearly 10 years.

THe worst in 10 years? In other words, flooding is not unexpected in that area.

You buy or build on a flood plain, you can't really complain when you get wet.

These homes are flooded out pretty much every year, and every year people smart enough to NOT live in a flood plain have to shell out tax dollars and donations to the "poor unfortunate victims of the flood". It would be a lot cheaper in the long run for the government to pay to move the homes, and enforce the building codes and environmental laws that prevent people from building (think about the flooded out septic tanks) in flood plains.