Flood waters continue to be a challenge for thousands of people in Muskoka and the situation could get worse.
Several roads in the Huntsville area remain closed due to heavy flooding on Saturday. Beach Road and Glen Acres Road are among those closed.
“This would be in the top 10 in the amount of time that I've been here and like I said we've been here 60 years,” says Huntsville resident Robert Maxwell.
The water surprised many, forcing people out of their homes. About three feet off water has surrounded some buildings.
John McCormack says he was checking on his son-in-law’s cottage and now has to tell him the bad news.
“I'm going to call him today and tell him that there's no sense coming up because the water is there.”
The Big East River carries water from Algonquin Park down towards Huntsville. It’s flooding many low-lying areas along the way.
“We did see the upper watershed peak last night around 6 p.m.,” says Huntsville’s fire prevention officer Mike Vadlja. The amount of rain and obviously the snowpack and the warmer temperature, that's where we get our problems and it all comes from Algonquin Park.”
The Big East levels appear to be receding, but it will be awhile before the damage assement can begin.
“It's going to be a good 24 to 48 hours usually before we'll be able to open this area up, as well as some of the other roads.”
Huntsville fire expect water levels to rise in the town's downtown core over the next 24 hours, but hope that freezing temperatures offer some relief from the flooding.
State of emergency
A state of emergency continues in the Grey County community of Chatsworth.
Homes that surround the bridge that cuts through Highway 6 in Williamsford have been evacuated. In total, officials believe about 100 people were affected, with the heaviest damage in Holland Centre. It was Friday when about 40 cottagers were told there was a voluntary evacuation of the area.
“Police came and told everybody on the side of the lake that they'd have to be evacuated,” says landlord Dave Graham.
Township officials decided to close the bridge on Highway 6 in Chatsworth for several reasons. The first is that it was completely flooded and the second is that they wanted to check for any structural damage.
“We are hoping by tomorrow that we may be able to reopen the bridge, but were are not sure at this point,” says Mayor Bob Pringle.
At the Williamsford community centre, officials met with residents to give them an update on the situation. Their biggest concern now isn't just property damage, it’s well water contamination. Officials fear E. coli from septic tanks could have made its way into drinking water.
“We're recommending that everybody do a boil water or go strictly to bottled water for now and pick up the test kits from the health unit and I would say test water daily at least for a month. Even longer,” says Chatsworth fire chief Mike Givens.
