Rising water levels could get worse in French River, mayor says

Residents in French River impacted by flooding are cleaning up and working to secure their property. The municipality remains under a state of emergency.

Residents living in the French River area impacted by flooding are cleaning up and working to secure property that could be in jeopardy.

The municipality declared a state of emergency Wednesday and officials are working with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre.

CAO Marc Gagnon said about 50 homes have been affected by flooding, which has also left three roads impassable.

Mayor Gisele Pageau said she has never seen flooding to this extent in the community.

“I’ve lived here for decades, and I’ve never seen the water go up so high in April,” Pageau said.

The situation could get worse before it gets better.

“There’s still lots of ice on the river,” she said.

“The other thing that is concerning is the amount of snow coming in from Temiskaming and some of the other northern regions -- that water comes down to us because we’re at the end of the watershed.”

“The local flows have already caused us to peak at our peak flood levels in the Pine Bay area,” Gagnon added.

“We have yet to work with the watershed and the water coming down from the Nipissing watershed into our area.”

About 1,000 sandbags

Since Wednesday, about 1,000 sandbags have been handed out. Teens from a neighbouring school were expected to volunteer Friday to help fill the bags with sand.

Dan Gauthier was at the sand pile in Alban, filling more bags for his property on Brousseau Road. The flooding along this street is visible from Highway 64.

Gauthier even created a contraption made out of several buckets with the bottoms cut out to help save his back while he shovels sand into the bags.

“All my trailers and my lumber that was sitting near shore, which is usually 30 feet away, would have been underwater today,” he said.

“Yesterday there was green grass and now there’s this much water over top of everything.”

Gauthier estimated he’s filled and spread out about 400 bags on his property. His house hasn’t flooded and he said he’s hoping the sandbags keep the water at bay.

“I have a tree by the river, and (the water has) never been to the tree -- now it’s 20 feet past the tree,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gagnon said it could be two or three weeks before the state of emergency is lifted. He’s also concerned about how rain in the forecast this week could add to the community’s problems.

“People are concerned and then we also have the good news stories of people calling in wanting to volunteer, wanting to assist,” he said.

“What we’re doing is (telling them to) call in to our municipal office.”