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State of Emergency Declared in Fort Frances

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A state of emergency has been declared in Fort Frances.

PRESS RELEASE RE: STATE OF EMERGENCY

Posted by Town of Fort Frances: Official on Saturday, April 23, 2022

Heavy rain Friday night and Saturday morning resulted in a pumping station near the Memorial Sports Centre to fail.

Town spokesperson Patrick Briere says crews have been working around the clock to keep water flowing.

“It (got) to a point overnight last night where we had a critical infrastructure failure at one of our lift stations. We have crews on scene. They’ve been working all night, and they continue to work to alleviate the problems and the back-ups. We are pushing at 100% capacity for water right now,” says Briere.

Briere says residents should ensure their sump pumps are flowing outside.

Is your sump pump moved over to summer mode? In accordance with by-law 06/16 after March 31 sump pumps cannot discharge…

Posted by Town of Fort Frances: Official on Friday, April 22, 2022

He says they have talked about getting residents to conserve water, but no decision has been made.

“We’re just asking the residents to ensure their sump pumps are discharging outside now. We haven’t gotten to the point where we’re asking for the reduction in usage yet, but it is something that has been discussed at our table and will be discussed further as that as the situation unfolds,” says Briere.

Briere and Mayor June Caul toured the town Saturday morning.

There was flooding of the Portage Avenue underpass, but that cleared up once pumps there kicked into operation.

Point Park is under water and is now closed to the public.

“So just stay out of that area for sure and stay out of the areas where crews and contractors are working. Just let them do their jobs safely. We do have some portable pumps in some areas of town, and we are working in the arena area right now as a core operation right now. So if people could just stay away from those areas and let town crews work, it’ll help us get through things faster.”

There are also reports of flooding in other parts of the Rainy River District.

Some rural roads are completely underway water.

Environment Canada is forecasting more rain Saturday night and Sunday morning before it changes to snow and ice pellets Sunday afternoon.

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Dryden Not In A Position To Host Evacuees Right Now

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It appears the City of Dryden won’t be able to act as a host site if community evacuations take place this Spring due to flooding and forest fires.

Chief Administrative Officer Roger Nesbitt says they would struggle greatly taking on any kind of evacuation role right now due to the uncertainty of COVID-19.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association has raised similar alarm bells, calling on both levels of senior government to develop an action plan.

Nesbitt says “Many of our services right now are gearing up to handle surges from this virus. So taking on evacuation services would be somewhat difficult.”

The province says it will be handling evacuation plans and communicating with area municipalities, promising to ease the burden on hosting responsibilities because of coronavirus restrictions.

Dryden has acted as a “Transportation Hub” the last couple of years, including 2019.

Nesbitt believes they aren’t in a position to serve as a “Host Community.”

“It is taxing on our current municipal staffing levels. We are not staffed to handle large requests, AD HOC requests, such as evacuation hosting or even transportation hub services involved in an evacuation.”

It is a cost recovery service, but Nesbitt cautions it doesn’t include the significant time commitment required by municipal employees.

Nesbitt notes it also comes down to lodging, stating the province wants everyone grouped together.

“We’ve seen very limited commercial lodging availability through the summer months within Dryden. We saw that both last year and the year before. With basically the same pattern of availability.”

No official decision has been made.

There is support on Council if the City is able to partner with a third party, private sector entity, something the government considers but doesn’t generally act on.

No request has come down from the provincial government but the City would be required to adopt an official resolution if asked.

The issue was brought up at a recent Council meeting.