Mattawa Mayor Dean Backer took a few moments to reflect on the life-altering flooding situation he and his friends and neighbours faced in the spring of 2019.
"What I always say is we have a strong community, we're persistent, and we care."
It was one year ago Backer declared a state of emergency in Mattawa. Rising floodwaters had placed people and property in Mattawa in imminent danger. Residents turned out in full force to build and reinforce a berm to protect the town nestled along the shores of the Ottawa and Mattawa rivers.
"We put over 300,000 bags — and I don't know how many tonnes of dirt on that berm. At any given time we had 300 to 400 people bagging sand for a week straight. It was truly magical but I hope we never have to experience it again."
Backer says, "It was the perfect storm. What was really disheartening at this time last year was we had 20 minutes notice that 10 feet of water was on our way."
The Mayor says the town now has better communication with OPG and the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board.
"Relations and communications have improved immensely. We meet almost on a monthly basis via teleconference. They give us updates on water levels."
It would be natural for flood-weary citizens to be apprehensive about the spring runoff but Backer assures this year's levels are "nowhere near the precipitation we saw in 2019."
Much of the rebuilding will take place over the next three to four months, says Backer, although some delays are likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the street work and berms are at the top of the list. Progress has also been made on restoring the Pont Mauril Bridge after structural deficiencies were discovered.
"We have $3 million worth of work to be done. We have streets that were compromised, we've had culverts that were compromised."
Last month, the provincial government announced $2.3 million in compensation to the town to mitigate some of the cost of the flood damage, and the necessary bridge work brought close to $1.3 million from the Ministry of Transportation.
With those contributions from the province, Backer says, "I can tell you we are going to be in a better financial position to fix our infrastructure."
Backer adds, "Hopefully it's another 60 years before we see another flooding situation, however, the municipality is going to prepare and we're going to fix some infrastructure in town. Should this happen again, we're going to have a better mechanism in place."
