The remaining residents who have not yet been able to access their homes after devastating flooding in Brampton, Ont., will be able to do so on Saturday, the city’s fire chief says.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Fire Chief Bill Boyes, said crews are “still dealing with this complex flood.”
“We have made progress,” he told reporters. “As you can see around us there are pumps activated, we’ve been able to reduce the water levels to a point now where we’re able to get all of the remaining residents back into their home.”
Boyes said by Saturday morning six homes were still evacuated.
“We’re now going to allow them to go home today,” he said.
According to Boyes, the residents will be able to return to their homes temporarily, to assess the damage and contact their insurance companies.
“We’re still concerned about future flooding,” he said.
The flooding occurred in the Churchville Road and Steeles Avenue West area, near the Credit River. At the peak of the flooding, officials said water was around five or six feet deep in some areas.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Michael Parks, director for Brampton roads and maintenance operations, said the major cause of flooding was ice breakup from the excessive rain on Thursday.
Parks said the water flow brought the large chunks of ice to a particular “elbow” in the Credit River and then the ice backed up and flooded the community.
Initially, a total of 100 homes were evacuated.
Boyes told reporters on Saturday that crews are now using heavy machinery and break up the ice jam in the elbow of the river. He said this has helped alleviate flooding “in the immediate area.”
“But the the ice jam is still there at this time,” he said. “So we are working on clearing that but it’s gonna take some time, the weather is not cooperating; (it) is still very cold, it’s still snowing a little bit here today — so this is going to be a more longer duration.”
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Boyes said this is a “very difficult” task, adding that one excavator entered the water Friday night, ceasing operations at around 9 p.m.
According to Boyes, no one was hurt, but the excavator remains in the water.
“The work that the excavator was doing, though, did help free up some ice to allow water to pass through, which is why we see less flooding in the area today,” he said.
According to Boyes, the power, water and gas have been shut off in the homes affected by the flooding.
“We believe there’ll be water in the basement, there’s gonna be water in those homes,” he said.
Boyes said an inspection will need to be done before the utilities can be turned back on.
“And again, we have to be really cognizant that this is temporary for some of these homes, as the weather warms up in the coming days, there could be future flooding, because there is still the ice jam that persists in the river right now,” he said.
For now, Boyes said crews are working to reduce the water level in the area using large pumps, and return it to the river.
“Then the next steps will be to work on the ice jam and try to hopefully find a way to remove that blockage,” he said.
On Saturday, Parks told the press conference that crews had identified three locations where water from the river had entered the neighbourhood.
Parks said two of the spots have been “managed” — one with a pump – and the other was now “flowing freely as designed.”
“The third one we’re working on today,” Parks said. “We are getting close, they’re on their way here now to then pump out of that third location and reduce any further flooding on the roads and in the neighbourhood.”
He said the colder weather on Saturday was “beneficial” to crews, saying the water levels had “notably reduced.”
“Everything’s frozen up right now,” he said. “Whereas two days ago, there was free-flowing ice (and) ice jams through the river, so it’s all frozen up right now.”
Parks also said an engineer had been called in to assess the bridge. It was deemed safe for pedestrian use, but further assessments will be needed.
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