City to declare state of emergency?

Senior City of Sault Ste. Marie staff members are considering whether to declare a state of emergency in order to deal with infrastructure damage caused by last week’s heavy rain.

That statement came from Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority Board Chair Brian Watkins after Tuesday’s SSMRCA meeting.

Watkins, who also serves as a Ward Three City Councillor, told SooToday.com: “They are meeting at present and may be looking to do that as quickly as they possibly can.”

As of Tuesday, only six days remained for the City to declare a state of emergency.  

A state of emergency must be declared by a municipality within 14 days after an event such as last Monday night’s heavy rain in order to qualify for provincial government funding for repairs to damaged municipal infrastructure.

Last week’s rainfall (which began late Monday September 9 and lasted into the early hours of Tuesday September 10) led to flooding which wreaked havoc on several local roads, causing sinkholes to appear and a CN Rail trestle at the city’s north end to collapse, not to mention considerable flood damage to many homes.

Provincial funding for infrastructure repair will not assist with repair to private homes damaged by flooding, however.

Tim and Annette Wishman of Old Garden River Road are particularly upset with both the City of Sault Ste. Marie and CN in the wake of last week’s event.

The couple appeared at Tuesday’s Conservation Authority Board meeting to express their views.

Speaking to SooToday.com, Tim Wishman said: “We feel it wasn’t a matter of the rain that caused the problem in our neighbourhood, it was the CN trestle letting go that dumped a deluge of water from that point downstream that caused all the damage south of the trestle.”

“We’ve lived there for 12 years and never had water over the banks of the river.”

Annette said: “Someone is at fault.  It wasn’t all just nature.”

“I’m sure that trestle was faulty for a while for it to go like that.”

The Wishmans told us they have had two feet of water pumped out of their basement and estimate they will have to spend more than $20,000 on repairs.

Tim Wishman told us four homes near to where he and his wife reside were damaged with “four to five feet” of water on the main floor of each home.  

In addition, Annette Wishman said: “My biggest anger is with the City.”

“Someone called 9-1-1 and it was 45 minutes before emergency services came.”

“They didn’t have the Red Cross there, or a place for us to get warm.  They had no blankets for kids who had to leave their homes.”

“As a mother I’m angry this City is not prepared,” Wishman said.

“This City’s emergency services failed us.”  

Meanwhile, SSMRCA General Manager Rhonda Bateman extended congratulations to Conservation Authority staff for their work during the heavy rainfall.

Bateman told us: “Our Field Supervisor Jamie Eaton and CA Field Staff member Rob Chartrand made sure that our flood channels could move without obstruction.”

The SSMRCA’s main flood channels are Clark Creek, East Davignon, West Davignon, Bennett Creek and Fort Creek. 

“We get all kinds of debris thrown in there apart from natural tree debris, like mattresses and tires, and it’s really awful for the flow, it’s a true hazard.”

“Jamie, Rob and Public Works made sure they cleared the channels of debris overnight as the rain fell by scraping the debris out,” Bateman said.

“The damage would have been worse if they hadn’t pulled that debris out of those flood channels.”

Bateman, who recently succeeded Linda Whalen as SSMRCA General Manager, was praised Tuesday by Board Chair Watkins for her management skills during the heavy rain event.

Bateman said areas such as the Fort Creek Conservation Area are back to normal, but urged the public to exercise caution and not slip on wet ground near waterways.