Two homes on Pine Tree Drive in Deer Lake have been asked to consider evacuation in light of the foundering riverbank their properties sit on.
According to a post on the Town of Deer Lake’s website, officials have met with the residents and are urging them to consider leaving.
A landslide on the sandy banks of the Humber River on Pine Tree Drive earlier this week forced the moving of several utility poles and Mayor Dean Ball said an engineering report done Wednesday has suggested the bank remains somewhat unstable.
The notice on the website indicated there has been considerable slippage of the bank into the Humber River and, in one area, the bank is now within six feet of Pine Tree Drive itself
Access to Pine Tree Drive is now limited to its residents.
A similar situation exists on Riverbank Road on the other side of the Nicholsville bridge from where Pine Tree Drive is. A section of that road has dropped, access is limited to residents who live on the road and has also been reduced to one-way traffic.
Motorists entering Riverbank Road near the bridge now have to exit through Goose Arm Road at the other end.
Barricades have been placed on both streets and only those who live in the immediate area are allowed in.
Residents of other nearby streets are still on alert for a possible evacuation, although the water levels in the Humber River have dropped considerably in the last day.
While the river is down by more than a foot, according to Ball, there are around two kilometres of ice backed up from the mouth where the river empties into Deer Lake.
Ball flew the Upper Humber River late Wednesday afternoon and said there is even more ice that could still come downriver and continue to create a risk of flooding in the town.
