City prepares for a flood season without volunteers
Officials say devastating flooding not likely but situation could quickly change
Staff with the City of Ottawa have been filling thousands of sandbags in case the Ottawa River floods again this year because they know volunteers won't be an option during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employees, some from recreation centres that are temporarily closed, began the preparations at a garage in Ottawa's rural west end last week, according to Coun. Eli El-Chantiry. They have been following the advice of public health officials and keeping a safe physical distance from one another, while also using tractors and other machinery to do the job.
Respecting the Social/ Physical Distancing I went this afternoon to say thank you to our staff preparing the sandbags In case of the floods we could never be too prepared, thank you to everyone <a href="https://twitter.com/ChiefDiMonte?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ChiefDiMonte</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ward5Ott?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ward5Ott</a> @laila23988 <a href="https://twitter.com/JimWatsonOttawa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JimWatsonOttawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/tm_kavanagh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tm_kavanagh</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeDarouze?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GeorgeDarouze</a> <a href="https://t.co/yCdkgZrrYT">pic.twitter.com/yCdkgZrrYT</a>
—@Eli_ElChantiry"We need to be prepared. Without the volunteers, it's going to be very difficult. It's just not possible to do what we did last time," said El-Chantiry, who is the council lead on this year's spring melt while the mayor is focused on COVID-19.
Last spring, 15,000 volunteers helped fill 1.5 million sandbags.
El-Chantiry and city management will give city council an update about flood risk and preparations during its meeting Wednesday.
El-Chantiry said the City of Ottawa doesn't expect to see the devastating water levels that flooded homes both in 2017 and last spring, and he hopes no emergency develops when the city is already strained by the virus.
But he said last year, things changed quickly over the course of April and the same could happen again, depending on how snow melts up north or if there is a lot of rain.
"Our residents, including myself, we are nervous. We are concerned that if it's going to happen, how prepared can we be under the circumstances of physical distancing?"
By this weekend, city staff hope to drop off 20,000 sandbags at the most at-risk areas along the Ottawa River.