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.
Two conservation authorities in eastern Ontario have issued flood warnings for several rivers and watershed lakes in their areas, with flooding imminent or already occurring in some locations. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) issued its warning Saturday for areas around Bob's Lake in South Frontenac, Christie Lake in Tay Valley and the Tay River in Perth, Ont.
Authorities in Alaska were making contact Monday with some of the most remote villages in the United States to determine their food and water needs, as well as assess the damage after a massive storm flooded communities on the state's vast western coast this weekend. No one was reported injured or killed during the massive storm — the remnants of Typhoon Merbok — as it traveled north through the Bering Strait over the weekend. However, damage to homes, roads and other infrastructure is only starting to be revealed as floodwaters recede.
A remote First Nation in northwestern Ontario is still working to recover from "unprecedented water levels" coming from the Pikangikum Lake, according to an emergency management official with the community. Major infrastructure and the main source of drinking water in Pikangikum were threatened by the rising water earlier this week, and the sole road to the northern store — the only place community members can purchase food and gas — was covered with water. The remote First Nation has about 3,000 residents and is located 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
The agency that monitors British Columbia's waterways is warning of "minor to significant flooding" in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island as warming temperatures and persistent rain melt heavy snow. The River Forecast Centre says in a high stream-flow advisory that a significant weather pattern change will occur this week and cause rapid rises in creeks and rivers, especially at low and mid-elevation watersheds on the coast.
Water levels in Yukon are approaching a high-water mark, according to a Yukon government hydrologist. "We're going to start seeing those water levels decline within the next couple of weeks and we don't expect them to exceed the previous highs," said Anthony Bier. But there's a caveat: water bodies, namely those in the Southern Lakes region and Lake Laberge, are still hovering around levels gauged in 2007, a year that caused widespread damages in the territory.
Some property owners along South McClintock Road in Yukon have cleared out as Marsh Lake continues to rise. "It's up fairly high and, you know, it's a west wind so the waves pound those sandbags," said John Small, a Whitehorse resident who owns a recreational property on South McClintock Road. Small and some of his neighbours say they were told by emergency officials to vacate their Marsh Lake properties on Sunday.
