The Town of Deer Lake has been bracing for how the spring thaw would affect erosion along the banks of the Humber River. The latest news is not good.
Rising temperatures and recent heavy rains have triggered a lot of snow melt that’s been released into the river.
According to Mayor Dean Ball, the river’s water level was up by more than four feet Tuesday, with more rain forecasted to fall overnight and into the morning.
The high water and thawing ground is exacerbating the erosion problems that started after a major rainstorm in mid-January that put homes along the Pine Tree Road neighbourhood on an evacuation alert.
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Ball said more of the sandy banks have fallen into the river, taking large trees, other vegetation and some private property along with it. Most concerning for the town is a relatively new crack in the soil close to underground municipal infrastructure.
Ball said there seems to be a lot more erosion than what was anticipated.
“It’s an ugly picture, but we’re on it,” said the mayor.
Being on it, though, still only means being able to monitor the situation as closely as possible. The town had an engineering report on the situation done, but that was only able to tell the town it had a serious problem that was likely only going to get worse.
Now that there’s a little better picture of just how bad the situation is, Ball said more work needs to be done to figure what to do about it. While it’s going to take some time to determine the best course of action, the forces of nature won’t necessarily be waiting around.
“It’s an issue I wish we could just discuss, make a decision on and deal with,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s dragged on since January and February and I guess it’s going to continue to be dragged out, but we’ve got to get the ball rolling on it.”
The town’s options include possibly depositing armour stone in the area most susceptible to the force of the river, or pacing steel pilings into the riverbank to deflect the flowing current.
Christine May is a resident of the neighbourhood and has been monitoring the situation regularly since it began nearly four months ago. While at the site Tuesday, May said she saw a large chunk of soil fall into the river.
“The water is coming up fast,” she said Tuesday. “There were big pans (of ice) going down the river yesterday and trees were cracking. It was scary.”
She thought the high water would be a good opportunity to bring in a barge and get some work done to rectify the situation, but she understands the town is still assessing the situation and contemplating the best thing to do.
“We don’t know what to look forward to or when are they going to help,” she said.
There is still no talk of anyone evacuating their homes, despite the town recommending they do so months ago. With the weight of a large bridge and dock structure and some big birch trees pulling on the bank towards the water, she knows things could get much worse in a hurry.
Guidance needed
The mayor said he consulted with his senior staff before contacting the Department of Municipal Affairs for some advice Tuesday morning. He said the town needs some guidance on how to proceed and will also likely need some financial help in tackling this major problem.
“It’s going to require funding and a lot of engineering done on it before we can spend the funding on it,” he said.
The problem is the erosion is continuing and the town still doesn’t know how bad it will get.
Pine Tree Road isn’t the only area of concern. The banks along Riverbank Road on the opposite side of the Humber River also began eroding away significantly after the January storm.
While the area initially deemed worst has held up fairly good since the storm, Ball said there are now two areas near the turnaround part of the cul-de-sac that have begun falling into the river.
Both roads have been restricted to local traffic only since January. On Tuesday, the town was sending work crews to both areas to erect more barricades and caution tape to keep people back from the most hazardous parts of the riverbanks.
“Somebody could walk out there innocently and think they’re on solid ground when they’re not,” said Ball.
