More than 200 homes issued evacuation notices in RM of Ritchot
More than 200 homes in the RM of Ritchot have been issued evacuation notices due to rising waters.
Many residents along Highway 200 are dealing with flooding on their properties. Pauline LaPalme is one of them. She needs to use a large truck to get across her flooded driveway in order to get home.
"There's just one part that's really, really deep," she said. "It's about halfway between these trees here and the spruce trees where it gets a little bit deeper, and that's the part that's a little bit more worrisome."
The municipality had declared a state of local emergency in April due to rising flood waters, and in an update Friday evening, issued evacuation notices to 231 homes within the community.
Mayor Chris Ewen said the evacuations are mainly due to homes losing access.
"We've only seen one home go underwater, and that was because the structural dike was not put up in time, but other than that it's 99 per cent because the road the infrastructure in front of the home is underwater," Ewen said.
He noted new evacuation notices are still going out daily in the area, as the river has not crested yet and bad weather is making conditions worse.
"We're still seeing a bit of a rise as of my understanding the wind did a lot of damage, and it created about a foot rise temporarily, so that's always something that we had to take into factor yesterday," Ewen said.
According to Ewen, there are currently about 300 people who have decided to leave their homes.
"With the flood situation, you know if you have everything, that checklist in place, you've got everything to last you for a couple of weeks and you feel comfortable staying in your home, by all means, that's your prerogative," added Ewen.
For residents planning to battle the floodwaters, the municipality said it has issued 140,000 sandbags to residents and has a stockpile of 240,000 sandbags which are available for free delivery.
While the municipality won't know the total cost of damages until the water recedes, Ewen estimates it's already up to several hundred thousand dollars.
"There's roads and infrastructure that's washed out. There's debris that needs to be cleaned up, you know, sandbag damage possibly from having the weight of the sandbags on certain areas or regions of land that could wash out. There's a lot, and it's going take some time to fix it," he said.
As for LaPalme, she's grateful she is only dealing with slight erosion on her driveway, as her neighbours have been forced to use boats.
"I feel bad for them because, especially down Prefontaine Road here, those people have been boating already for probably a week and a half, two weeks, boating their kids to the end of the driveway to catch the bus, boating to go to work."
More information about the flood measures in the municipality can be found online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
What Canadians think of the latest Liberal budget
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Her fiance has been in prison for 49 years. She's trying to free him before it’s too late
She was lying in bed on a Thursday morning, thinking about the man she loved, hoping to win his freedom before time ran out.