Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Lower Trent Conservation (LTC) says a “flood watch” remains in effect through to Wednesday, April 19 for areas including the municipalities of Brighton and Trent Hills. A flood watch is issued when there is a potential for flooding to occur in low-lying areas. Nuisance or minor flooding of access roads, backyards, basements, et cetera, is anticipated. LTC said buildings and people are not at risk. The flood watch involves the Trent River from Hastings to Trenton.
A flood warning was issued for Teslin Lake early Monday afternoon by the Yukon government's Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) as low-lying areas around the lake are flooding. "I've seen flooding before, but not [water] this high," said Kayne Geddes, a contractor who lives in Teslin. "Everybody's worried, they don't know what to expect." Geddes estimates there are about 100 people in the village who are helping protect low-lying areas by filling and placing sandbags.
Across the Old Crow Flats in the northern Yukon, lakes are telling a story of climate-driven change. The traditional territory of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN), the Old Crow Flats is recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance thanks to its more than 8,000 thermokarst lakes (up to 15 square kilometres) and ponds. Thermokarst lakes are formed by thawed permafrost and can be prone to drainage if they expand into low-lying areas. Kevin Turner, an Associate Professor in Brock’s Department of Geography and Tourism Studies and Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington, has studied the area since 2007, and he says that warmer temperatures, longer summers and more rain are “priming this important landscape for continued climate-driven landscape change.”
The first flood map of its kind demonstrates how low-lying areas of some of Canada’s major cities could become flooded within the next 80 years. The maps were developed by Slobodan Simonovic, engineering professor emeritus and flood-control expert at Western University. Spanning the entire country, they predict flood activity over the next 80 years based on various climate change scenarios caused by global warming. “[This] was the continuation of our interest in understanding better what are the impacts of climate change on natural disasters in general,” Simonovic told CTV News Channel on Sunday. “My part of the project was to look at how flooding will be affected by climate change.”
An estimated 700 people have been displaced from their homes in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., the mayor said Monday morning, after the community of about 1,200 was flooded during seasonal ice breakup over the weekend. "There's basically people all over the place," Mayor Sean Whelly told CBC Radio's The Trailbreaker. "They're down the highway, some of them with motorhomes, camps — setting up a bush camp, and things like that." He said other residents have gone to stay with relatives or friends.
