145 Homes In Danger After City of Belleville, Ontario Floods

by Rob Walker | April 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm | 706 views | 1 comment

Many residents were hoping their belongings and homes were intact after the worst flooding in 27 years hit the Belleville, Ontario area.

Six homes were evacuated and more than 145 homes were in the path of the flooding, which comes as the Moira river melts. It's the worst flooding since 1981.

Residents were advised not to drink the water and authorities said they were waiting for water levels to go down before letting people go back home.

Residents near Belleville, Ont., are crossing their fingers and hoping the worst is over after overflowing rivers flooded much of the region earlier this week.
Quinte Conservation Authority spokesperson Terry Murphy said on Wednesday that the waters peaked Tuesday night and have started to recede.

However, the 145 homes in the flood plain area aren't out of the woods yet.

"We're not going to remove any safety precautions yet ... because when there's so much water in the system that if we could get another big rainfall, it could flood again," Mr. Murphy said.

The eastern Ontario city of Belleville has declared a state of emergency as water from the Moira River swamps homes and shuts roadways in the worst flooding since 1981.

Six homes have been evacuated and more than 145 homes appear to be in the path of the river's flooding, which is also expected to affect several nearby municipalities, including Foxboro. Water levels were expected to continue to rise slowly until Wednesday, city officials said Monday.

On April 14, the Standard reported that a state of emergency was declared in Belleville, Ontario, on April 13 due to risk of flooding. At least 50 homes could be evacuated this week as a result of the rising Moira River. The City of Belleville announced that it expects peak flows to occur on April 16. The Hastings and Prince Edward County Health Unit is warning residents not to drink water that comes from private wells impacted by flooding.

The worst of the flooding appears to be over in the flood-soaked community of Foxboro, north of Belleville, in eastern Ontario.
Quinte Conservation Authority general manager Terry Murphy says the Moira River began to peak late Tuesday afternoon.

The city remains in a state of emergency today, with more water potentially on its way.
A combination of rising ground waters and the swollen Moira River continue to encroach on homes in the eastern Ontario region.
The local conservation authority says that water levels, which already reach 3 metres up the bank from their usual heights in some spots, were expected to crest today.