The Citizen, 2017-06-29, Page 17PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017.
Meetings continue post -flood in Huron County
G ER TR CLOSE
I
High water levels
Blyth was the victim of the second-highest level of rainfall in the Maitland River watershed, with
only Harriston seeing more of it. There have been reports of many basements being flooded
and needing emergency relief throughout Blyth and other local communities. One flashpoint
for the flooding was the Brussels Dam, which saw water levels so high that the walkway was
washed out and unpassable. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued from page 1
assessing the damage and
developing options on how to
proceed," she said. "We don't have
information about what our future
actions will be yet."
Thompson said people have
already asked if the berm near
Gorrie will be repaired, however the
MVCA doesn't know the extent of
the damage, Thompson said.
"We will make that information
available as we work through the
process," she said.
That process will involve the
Ministry of Natural Resources and
Forestry, Thompson said, as they
will need to weigh in.
While this was a significant event,
Thompson said, on a regional basis,
it didn't match the 100 -year -storm
mark that the MVCA encouraged
developers to think of.
"To put that into context, that's
still nowhere near a regional event,"
she said. "We use Hurricane Hazel
as our regional event. During that
hurricane, there could have been
twice as much rain as what we got
over the weekend."
She said they don't use what
happened in Huron County during
the hurricane in 1954, but what
would have happened had the
hurricane been directly over Huron
County.
Governance review
approved at county
Continued from page 1
"open for business" the county is,
the board was created to get a
business person's perspective, rather
than the perspective of staff and
councillors, which Orchard admitted
can be "bureaucratic" at times.
Bluewater Mayor Tyler Hessel
said he agreed that what goes on in
the county needs to be reviewed and
streamlined, but he felt the proposal
wasn't how it should be done.
Hessel reiterated a point he has
made at previous meetings, saying
that if a review of governance and
service delivery is to be done in the
county and at its lower -tier
municipalities, it should start with
the official plans.
Warden and Central Huron Mayor
Jim Ginn continued to be skeptical
of the review, saying he couldn't
envision a scenario where the
proposed review didn't end up
recommending single -tier structure.
"I have a different opinion on this.
I think it is about single -tier — no
question about it," he said.
Ginn also wondered that if council
would go ahead with the study if the
board declared that a single -tier
government recommendation was
off the table. He also added that he
didn't think there was a "snowball's
chance in you -know -where" that a
single -tier government would be
approved in his lifetime.
In the end, however, council voted
in favour of the review, which will
employ the services of a
professional consultant and is
expected to cost $60,000.
Through a recorded vote, council
voted nine to five in favour of the
review. Voting in favour of the
review were Roger Watt, Paul
Gowing, Art Versteeg, David
Frayne, Ben Van Diepenbeek,
Maureen Cole, Kevin Morrison,
Jewitt and Steffler, while Jim
Fergusson, Jim Donnelly, Neil
Vincent, Hessel and Ginn voted
against it. Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan was absent.
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"The storm last week, however,
was a really significant event," she
said. "As we look at our weather
trends, we will likely have more of
these kinds of events that include
short but very intense storm rains."
Thompson said the municipalities
involved responded well.
"The municipalities stepped up to
the plate and did a terrific job," she
said. "There was no loss of life,
which is great. There certainly was
some property damage to our own
infrastructure as well as houses
and roadways, which is never good,
but for the magnitude of water that
came down, it could have been
worse"
The MVCA has been focusing, in
recent years, more on flood
prevention and warning programs
and Thompson said she believes the
system worked as intended.
"I would say we felt we were
better prepared and able to give our
municipalities notice of the event,"
she said. "There is always room for
improvement, however. [On
Monday, we had] a long series of
discussions about how we can fine-
tune and improve the flood
forecasting system"
Thompson said the short, intense
rainstorm events are more difficult to
predict and shorten the timeframe
the MVCA has to warn
municipalities and the time the
municipalities have to react.
"It's different from the spring
floods when we know the snow pack
and can see the rain and warm
weather and do modelling based on
that," she said. "These events are
very different animals and present a
lot of challenges."
One concern that came up during
the event, according to Thompson,
was the danger that comes with the
higher water.
"We had a very close call in Gorrie
where people tried to canoe over the
breach created when the berm
broke," she said. "The canoe is very
badly damaged and somewhere on
the river, but the people in it got out
of the water safely. We do need to
work on reminding people that,
during a flood warning, it's not a
good time to do activities around the
water. People need to stay away
from the rivers."
What to do after the flood is also a
concern, according to the Huron
County Health Unit, which issued a
press release on Monday about what
actions to take after flooding.
Public Health Inspector Mike Park
encourages well owners in flooded
areas or those that received heavy
rain to test their water.
"Wells in low-lying, flood -prone
areas are at risk for contamination
from surface runoff," Park said in the
release, adding that dug wells, well
pits and well casings without proper
seals are most at risk.
Any water that has an odour,
discolouration or tastes badly should
not be consumed or used for food in
preparation.
All water should be tested,
according to the release, and anyone
unsure of the safety of their water
should be boiled for at least one
minute prior to drinking or using for
food preparation.
The Health Unit provided the
following tips for water safety after a
flood event like the one that occurred
late last week.
SEPTIC SYSTEMS
• Be sure septic tank covers are
secure.
• Do not use sewage systems until
the water level in the soil absorption
field is lower than the water level
around the house.
• Have septic tanks inspected
professionally if damage is suspected.
• Do not drive heavy equipment over
the soil of the absorption field as it's
vulnerable to compaction.
Backed -up sewage should be
cleaned and disinfected with a chlorine
solution of one half -cup of chlorine to
each gallon of water.
FOOD
• Discard any food that may have
been touched by flood waters except
Continued on page 24
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