Flooding and high water along the Black River in Ramara Township has people asking officials why the water can’t be managed better.
A flood warning remained for the township on Friday April 25, 2014 – which means for many residents along the Black River the sandbags remain in place. The melting of snow has some confident that the worst is over. Howard Hamilton lives by the river and says the melt caused minimal damage to his property.
“This year I thought it went incredibly well for the amount of snow we had to melt.”
Hamilton says damage wasn’t as bad as other year – still he’s canoeing in his backyard.
“This is Playing Field Lake – this is where we play in the summertime.”
A short distance away Julie Kramer shows us how close the Black River came to her house. The river took her dock and would have taken the canoes too had she not tied them off. She says the Black River swells every year but she has questions why.
“Curious how they control the water levels on the Black River as oppose to the Severn and how they prioritize who gets flooded.”
Parks Canada’s Jewel Cunningham tells CTV News that although the Black River has some dams it is not regulated and gaining control of it would be a huge, expensive project that would start with the dredging of the Severn River.
And with as much as 10 to 15 millimetres of rain forecasted through Wednesday – more flooding is possible.
“I refer people to conservation authorities who are best situated to provide information on what to expect,” says Cunningham.
Advice that Julie Kramer says people living on the Black River know all about.
“It’s a risk living on the river – you never know what’s going to happen next.”
