CALEB NICKERSON
PONTIAC April 13, 2020
As if a pandemic weren’t enough to worry about, residents of the Pontiac were keeping a keen eye on the level of the Ottawa River, as levels were expected to rise on Monday.
According to the website of the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board, levels could rise beyond minor flood levels in low-lying areas on April 13, due to rainfall and above average temperatures.
The website defines minor flood levels as the “level at which parts of some streets/roads, lawns and parks are beginning to flood, with no or few houses/buildings affected by water levels.”
They add that peak levels are not expected to exceed 2018 levels, though the river reached much higher levels in 2019 and 2017.
Municipality of Pontiac resident Kevin Crombie snagged a picture of the rising river water outside the Quyon Community Centre on Sunday afternoon. Crombie lives on River Road, and many of his neighbours needed to be evacuated during last year’s floods. He said he keeps a keen eye on the water levels after the catastrophe of the previous few years.
“Although my property’s quite high, I’ve got river frontage and last year we had a lot of erosion, which is kind of scary because there’s a couple of buildings that were in danger of falling into the river,” he said. “So we follow it pretty closely. This year the river is high, but … I’ve seen it much higher … [It’s] just enough to give you PTSD.”
