Homes and properties coated in ice along Lake Erie shoreline

Residents of Erie Shore Drive in Chatham-Kent saw more flooding over the weekend, as their homes became covered with ice. 

Wind created large sprays and waves on the waters of Lake Erie — a major cause of concern for residents after  the area was ravaged by flooding last year. 

Cheryl Wallace, who owns a home on Erie Shore Drive, said properties and homes were "coated with ice" over the weekend. 

"I saw some trees that the ice had blown up on them ... the water had blown onto the trees and formed a lot of ice and it broke all the branches off of the trees," said Wallace. 

"It's happened before, but the tree damage was very bad this time."

Wallace said the ice was "really thick" and went up about 9 metres onto some trees and some resident's hydro was affected. 

The flood over the weekend was "fairly typical for that area," said Jason Wintermute, manager of watershed and information services at the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority.

"The way it floods down there is that the waves come in and they hit these vertical steel break walls that [residents] have," he said. "And then the waves spray up in the air and then the wind blows in onshore and this repeated action causes flooding." 

Freezing Saturday temperatures caused those waves to turn into ice, said Wintermute, adding that it has happened before.

"This is kind of the first time this year where the temperatures got low enough that we saw this kind of freezing spray but it's not unprecedented back in the 80s and the late 90s where we also had high water levels."

For Wallace though, her biggest concern is protecting her property. 

"The biggest thing has been the erosion," she said. "With the erosion, it took out a lot of break walls and once your break wall goes, your house is in great danger."

In August 2019, the municipality declared a state of emergency as a result of high water and strong winds that caused flooding in the area. Erie Shore Drive was closed from Bissnet Line to Erieau Road. 

Wallace is worried those same conditions may be a problem this winter. 

"The problem is the water is so high right now — again it's almost the size it was in August," she said. 

Fortunately, the windy conditions on Saturday did not last long. 

"So we were just lucky that it only went for a few hours instead of a few days like it did in August," said Wallace. 

Wintermute said the area is still under a flood watch, with a possibility of further flooding Monday night, but winds and temperatures are expected to be more moderate than on Saturday.