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.
A flood warning remains in effect for the Rideau Valley watershed following Wednesday's ice storm. Many in the Kemptville area have properties under water. Mark Visser's front lawn is completely flooded. "You move stuff off the floor… hopefully it won't get wet and you hope for the best," he said. Rising water levels, coupled with an ice storm and the immediate melt pushed the Rideau River higher.
“You wake up in the morning and you go to your computer to work … and you look outside and it’s raining ashes,” said the former Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS) researcher at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). Aubry-Wake’s research article “Fire and Ice: The Impact of Wildfire-Affected Albedo and Irradiance on Glacier Melt” was published in the American Geophysical Union (AGU) journal Earth’s Future in April 2022.
After a winter that has seen snowfalls nearly double the average in some areas, officials in southern Manitoba say they're keeping a close eye on the weather heading into spring — and getting ready for possible flooding. The province's hydrologic forecast centre released its first flood outlook for the season last month. It is predicting major flows along the Red River and its tributaries, including the Roseau, Rat and Pembina Rivers.
