Residents, volunteers and government workers continued to fight back floodwaters Friday in an effort to keep homes above water in the Bowmanville area.
Water that covered some local roads yesterday subsided, but sandbagging efforts are continuing with water levels in Lake Ontario remaining at record-high levels following weeks of persistent rain.
“Yesterday hit us on two fronts – the lake was extremely rough with a wind surge, causing flooding,” Fire Chief Gordon Weir told CTV News Toronto.
More than 100 firefighters, municipal staff, volunteers and workers from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry worked steadily to fill and place sandbags around homes today.
So far the municipality has deployed around 20,000 sandbags.
“We’re building kind of walls closer to the house so that the pumps have less water to worry about,” Weir said.
[IN PHOTOS: GTA deals with flooding, high water levels]
Images from the area show waves smashing against the shore, rushing around homes and covering roadways.A number of area roads have been restricted to anyone but residents as crews work to protect homes against the rising waters.
Residents in the most badly affected areas say that holding the water back has been a constant effort.
“It was pretty wild. I wasn’t out very much. I was in the house looking after the pumps,” resident Keith Martin said. “The waves just come overtop. We got three pumps going. So far it isn’t in the house.”
In an update Thursday night, the municipality said that if the lake waters continue to surge, some homes could be evacuated.
Some homes in the area have already experienced flooding but most residents have opted to stay put so far.
A provincial disaster assistance team is expected to arrive in the area next week to further assess the situation in the area.
