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.
Raging water is pouring out of the Fanshawe Dam as the flood control structure does its job to protect London. But the controlled release of water from Fanshawe Lake into the Thames River cannot stop shoreline flooding and fast-moving water. That’s especially true after a steady rainfall and expected thunderstorms Wednesday. “Things are moving very quickly and the water is high moving through the city right now,” said Teresa Hollingsworth with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.
Jackie Kloosterboer has worked with people caught in emergencies for more than two decades, and time and again she's seen how simple planning could have helped them through the catastrophe. Kloosterboer, who is the City of Vancouver's emergency planner, spent her summer working out of Chilliwack with her staff to help people who were forced to flee due to wildfires. A few months later, she was working out of Abbotsford to help those affected by flooding.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told a news conference Monday that someone remotely accessed a computer for the City of Oldsmar water treatment system on Friday and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100. The Tampa Bay Times said the chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water, but it’s also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners.
