The Times Advocate, 2005-07-20, Page 1Atka a
(519)235-1115
www.hurontractor.com
El I
TRACTOR
Exeter
g3c cwa
0
.SCI
www.hay.n„
HIGH SPEED INTERNET
SERVING EXETER
& SURROUNDING AREAS
For as low as $19.95/mo.
(519)236-4333
TIMES ADVOCATE
Exeter, Ontario, Canada
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
1 .25 (includes GST)
Exeter floods . . . again
By Scott Nixon
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
EXETER — Local residents hoping for rain got more
than they bargained for last Saturday when a heavy
downpour pounded the area for several hours, resulting
in flooded homes, streets and ditches.
The flood was the worst in the area since July 2000.
South Huron operations manager Dennis Hockey
described the weekend's shower as "a 25 -year storm
event" that saw five to six inches of rain hammer the
area in about three hours. Over the weekend, ruined
furniture, carpets and other household items could be
seen at roadsides in town.
"We got hit again," Hockey summed up, adding this is
the fourth big flood in Exeter in the last 10 years,
although last weekend's flood wasn't as bad as July
2000. During that flood, Hockey, who lives on Huron
Street East, said his laneway was washed out due to the
rushing water. This time, his laneway is intact, but he
had water on both sides of his house.
There are a number of areas in town where flooding is
a problem, but the area affecting the most people is in
the south end along the Anne Street drain, where hous-
es on streets like Simcoe, Huron and Albert experienced
flooded basements and yards.
Hockey said the south flood stretched from the field
south of Simcoe Street, west to Andrew Street, east to
the Edward Street area and as far north as the south
part of the track field at South Huron District High
School.
"The Anne Street drain was tak-
ing the water well, but once again,
with that much rain, it's just a mat-
ter of time" before it can't take any
more water, Hockey said. While
the drain was full of cornstalks
washed in from the fields, they
weren't clogging the drain.
Municipal crews were on scene in
the afternoon clearing the corn-
stalks out.
Other flooding was seen in the
north end of town, where the park-
ing lots of Canadian Tire and
Hansen's Independent Grocer
became large pools of water. Smaller flooding took
place in parts of Huron Park, Hensall and Goderich.
The much -talked about $800,000 Exeter flood man-
agement project, which will see a large dry holding area
dug south of Simcoe Street to hold up to 32,000 cubic
metres, won't be done until the fall.
Slated to be done earlier, the project was delayed dur-
ing land negotiations.
"Yes, we would have liked to have had that retention
pond built by now," Hockey said, "and we would have
liked to see how much it helped." He said he's optimistic
the project will be done by the end of the
year.
It should have always been done yes-
terday, and we're working on it. The
town is throwing a lot of money at this
and they're sincere in trying to do what
they can, but we're not there yet."
Hockey said the town is picking up
damaged and destroyed household items
at the curbside until Thursday, while next
week, residents can take their items to
the landfill site at no cost.
"We're doing what we can," Hockey
said, noting he has much sympathy for
those people who have suffered losses in
the flood. "It's frustrating for everybody."
"Finished basements are a real issue — you've got fur-
niture, you've got carpet, you've got walls."
During the rain, South Huron's roads department was
busy putting barricades on the flooded areas and
See FLOODING page 2
"It should have always been
done yesterday, and we're
working on it.The town is
throwing a lot of money at
this and they're sincere in
trying to do what they can,
but we're not there yet."
DENNIS HOCKEY
SOUTH HURON
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Seeing Canada throu
Tomas Kesliar of Slovakia and Melissa Huizenga of the
Netherlands are staying with local families for a month as
part of a Lions Exchange program. (photo/Pat Bolen)
By Pat Bolen
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
EXETER — Big cars
and bigger territory are a
couple of the impressions
of Canada two exchange
students staying in Exeter
have observed.
Melissa Huizenga, age
20, and Tomas Kesliar
age 17, arrived in Canada
July 2 for a month long
exchange.
Huizenga, who is from
the Netherlands, is stay-
ing with Paul and
Christina Scott of Exeter,
while Kesliar, who is from
Slovakia will be moving
around during his visit.
He is staying with host
families Bill and Diane
Carson, Susan and Bill
European eyes
McGregor and George
and Lois Godbolt.
It is the first exchange
visit to Canada for both
and they have been busy
with a variety of activities.
Huizenga lives in the vil-
lage of Nijverdal, which is
slightly bigger than
Exeter, while Kesliar lives
in the capital city of
Bradislava.
Both have visited
Niagara Falls, which was
one of their goals, as well
as sightseeing in Toronto,
Sunfest in London and
camping at Pinery Park.
Kesliar said everything
is slightly different but he
was prepared for it, while
Huizenga said she read a
lot about Canada prepar-
ing for her visit and knew
"Canada is big, really
big."
In their native countries,
Kesliar is a high school
student who hopes to get
into economics or bank-
ing.
Huizenga is a home care
worker for disabled per-
sons.
In addition to the size of
the country, other differ-
ences the two have
noticed is the geography,
with more hills in
Slovakia, according to
Kesliar and more public
transit available in the
Netherlands says
Huizenga.
Kesliar said he wanted
to be busy which is why
he has more than one
host family, while
Huizenga preferred to be
able to "unpack her suit-
case" and stay with one
family.
The two will be attend-
ing the Bruce Murray
Lions International Youth
Camp from July 16-24
where they will be giving
brief presentations on
their visit.
Both say they are enjoy-
ing the experience and
would like to try another
exchange.
"When you're coming
back, you're a different
person, " said Huizenga.
"If I had the chance I
would stay longer."
"There have been lots of
good experiences," said
Kesliar. "Very useful."
Access to over 30 competing banks and lenders.
MORTGAGE
INTELLIGENCE
The SunCoast Mortgage Team
Justin Christie, AMP • Keith Walper, AMP
45 Ontario Street South • Grand Bend
519.238.HOME or 866.544.4001
THAT'S A FACT!
SunCoast. ca