High water levels along the Ottawa River and its tributaries hit the Pontiac last week without causing much damage, leaving a handful of roads closed and only a few homes affected across the region.

A May 5 update from the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB) forecasted flood levels will stabilize in Lake Coulonge at 108.15 metres over the next couple of days, but still suggested a peak level of 108.35 metres may be reached, depending on precipitation this week.

“Spring runoff in the northern part of the basin remains very high,” it reads, adding that levels may reach or exceed the major flood level between Mattawa and Lake Coulonge.

Mansfield and Pontefract director general Éric Rochon said the municipality hit a peak level of 108.16, and closed two roads last week (chemin Léonard and chemin Esprit) due to high water levels.

“The impact is very minimal. People have lots of water on their properties, but water in the houses is very minimal if there is any,” he said, adding that most residents with homes in flood zones prepared accordingly for the possibility of floods.

An email thread circulated to residents on Sunday said there were nine total roads or driveways in the municipality that were at least partially covered by water, but Rochon confirmed cottages and homes were largely unaffected.

Rochon said despite the ORRPB’s predictions, he doesn’t expect levels to get much higher, since levels in local tributaries appear to be lowering.

“The Coulonge River, the Black River, they’re slowing down, which I think is helping the Ottawa River,” he said. “Right now I don’t see a 108.30 coming, even 108.20. We’re going down right now.”

He said going forward, the municipality is still remaining vigilant and is monitoring the situation. “It seems to be coming down a little bit, but we haven’t put our fists down. We’re still fighting this,” he said.

Rochon added the municipality is still making sandbags and sand available for anyone who needs them at 32 chemin Lac de la Truite.

‘Not a huge concern’ on Allumette Island

The Municipality of Allumette Island issued a press release on Apr. 28 about the upcoming peak levels, saying the municipality had closed portions of certain private roads due to flooding.

Mayor Corey Spence said on Monday that three private roads were still closed due to flooding levels, but no residences had been affected.

“Emergency services can get down those roads if required, but most of the residents of them are actually cottages, so there’s not a huge concern about it,” he said.

“We peaked at our minor flood levels, so we’re expecting it to start to drop slowly,” he said.

Spence, who sits on the MRC’s flooding prevention task force, said there is only so much municipalities can do to prepare for floods, including making sandbags available and communicating water level updates to their residents.

He said the municipalities have been working together to communicate their concerns to the stakeholders along the Ottawa River and its tributaries, and that the various bodies should do a better job working together to regulate water levels.

“I believe that we can do better,” he said. “There’s three government bodies involved, and then the people who actually have dams on there [ . . . ] There needs to be a coordinated effort between all of them.”

He said one thing that can be done is to have better and more frequent sensors along the river so that the ORRPB can better communicate accurate and up-to-date information about water levels.

“They have to invest in more measurement equipment to have better ways of knowing those levels and when to make those decisions,” he said.

‘No homes in trouble’ in Waltham

The Municipality of Waltham put out two press releases announcing road closures last week: one on Apr. 29 announcing Black River Road would be limited to local traffic due to nearly a foot of water on the road, and another on Apr. 30 announcing the closure of Traversier Road to non-local traffic.

Mayor Odette Godin said those closures were only cautionary as the flooding situation this year was not as bad this year as in 2019, when many homes on Traversier Road and other parts of the municipality were flooded.

“There’s no homes in trouble at this point, nobody’s stranded,” she said on Monday afternoon, adding that the forecast shows the situation should only get better from here.

She said she made herself available to residents of Waltham who were concerned about rising levels, but she said she doesn’t have much power aside from offering sandbags and a compassionate ear.

“I’ve never felt so useless in all my life,” she said. “I just allow people to be able to speak to somebody, even though they know and I know that I can’t do anything,” she said, adding that the MRC’s flood prevention task force only has so much sway with the owners of the dams who control water levels in the river.

“Climate change has something to do with it, no doubt,” she said. “But I just feel that there has to be other things they can do.”