West Carleton Disaster Relief

Final UPDATE: May 6 2020 ORRPB has forecast that runoff due to snowmelt and the April 30th precipitation event has peaked in the northern and central portions of the basin. The level along Lac Deschene’s/Constance Bay peaked at 59.20m today and is expected to begin declining toward summer levels on Friday. Other things aside, the 2020 freshet has been very routine; March started out warm with about 130% of average snow bringing us a routine first peak of 59.59m, 30th overall...Continue reading

Wanted Toy Hauler Trailer. WCDR has received some funding to help us with disaster preparedness. Part of the funding has been going toward developing our Readiness Programs, www.westcarletonrelief.ca. Another portion is to allow up to purchase and outfit a trailer to enable us to be ready to support the volunteer response in the event of future disasters. We have a modest budget and are looking for a toy hauler that has multifunctional space with a fuel station and generator. If you have one or hear of something please message us.

MDS Volunteers build homes for life.

WCDR is looking to the future of disaster preparedness, response and recovery in West Carleton and we are looking for your input. The role of WCDR is not to duplicate the efforts of any government or NGO that may choose to respond but instead to fill the gaps, both the gap in knowledge of our communities and the gap in the available supports to our affected community members. Understanding that every disaster is different, we are working to define the future operational foca...l points and boundaries for our future responses. Across our extended community, we have an exceptional concentration of first-hand disaster experience; more than our share of survivors, a wealth of volunteer experience, and a tremendous breadth of professionals who have contributed to past disasters or who are interested in contributing. These people collectively know which parts of a disaster are well managed by professionals or volunteers, where gaps exist, and where the professional or volunteer response could have been greatly improved. Our goal at this time is to gather feedback from as many of you as possible, as well as to find individuals who are interested in using their expertise to help WCDR ensure that our response to disaster complements and completes the services that are available from other NGO's and governments; defining and prioritizing our future capabilities so we best support both the future volunteer response and the victim experience. If you are interested in participating and sharing your feedback please email [email protected]. We will combine your feedback to the lessons learned we have accumulated since 2017 so we evolve in a way that positions volunteers to do our best work in the areas that are most needed to improve outcomes.

As we continue to look for support for our families recovering from the 2019 Floods some of our team is working on addressing other risks to residents of West Carleton. Watch for you Wildfire Ready flyer in the coming weeks, there are great tips on how to reduce your risk.

Please share with your neighbours and those who you think may need help. If you need a printed copy for your neighbours please message us and we can get you a copy. This program is run by the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre Grocery order delivery, one order per week Call us at 613-591-3686 x 336 OR email us at [email protected]... Orders must be in by Friday at 12:00 pm for delivery the following week. This service is available to any vulnerable, isolated community members (no age restrictions). Priority will be given to West Carleton residents. Delivery will be limited to 30 households/week. Payment will be made directly to the store for the grocery order; subsidies are available

Good Afternoon Everyone We expected to have some videos to share with you today regarding the spring freshet. Unfortunately, they are proving a little harder to get up for you than anticipated. We will post the links as soon as we have them. In the meantime please visit our website https://www.westcarletonrelief.ca/be-flood-ready for great tips on becoming flood ready. The flood forecast looks good over the few days. An update will be posted in the pinned post.... http://ottawariver.ca/forecasts/ Enjoy the sun today and stay safe. ______ City of Covid-19 Information Agencies are banding together to create a task force to support our most vulnerable during this time. If you need assistance please call 211 for more information or send us an email for a direct referral. westcarletonrelief.ca Human Needs Task Force A Human Needs Task Force has been implemented as part of the City’s Emergency Management Plan and emergency response to COVID-19 to ensure that we are responsive to the emerging needs of the community. The task force is currently focused on service coordination for immediate, medium and long-term response associated with five emerging needs: Outreach to isolated seniors Food security Transportation Volunteer coordination Housing and homeless needs

Water update from MVC.

FLOOD WATCH UPDATED: March 28, 2020 NEXT UPDATE MARCH 31, 2020 (Also, see below for your opportunity to ask flood-related questions) The river level has been moving in its normal range of +/- 10cm of 58.5m for the past week. Over the next few days, normal temperatures and 30mm of rain across the valley will melt much of the remaining snow in the lower basin raising water levels significantly however they will stay below flood levels. ... It is worth remembering that April flooding has only occurred 3 times in the past 105 years; 2019, 1951, and 1922; the earliest start was on April 15th. April floods are caused by the lower basin snowmelt and/or exceptional rainfall events. The snowmelt started 3 weeks early this year bringing the snowpack to below-average levels, which is a positive indicator. Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB) will begin issuing their river forecasts on Monday, March 30, we will update this page on Tuesday. Those using the ORRPB site should note that levels from Buckham's Bay to Britannia are effectively the same when levels are below 59.5m. ____________ Update on Flood Meeting: We will now be hosting audio and video presentations and are recording Q&A sessions this week featuring the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Secretariat, OPG and Electrical Safety Authority. These will provide a deeper look into the functioning and status of the West Carleton part of the river, flood preparedness, electrical safety, and flood-related blackouts. Look for them to be released on YouTube and for MPG download. Families registered on the WCDR Flood Updates list will receive the links automatically in their email. Do you have a question you would like answered? Email it to us at [email protected] before April 1st.

While there are many around the world who are suffering amidst this outbreak, we want to take a moment to acknowledge that here, in West Carleton this is now the fourth major incident affecting our communities in the past 3 years. From all indications, this will likely affect quite a number of our community members over the course of the pandemic. This outbreak is compounding the stress and anxiety that you and your neighbours are already feeling. Many of our residents conti...nue to struggle with their repairs or rebuilds from the floods or the tornado and others are worried about the upcoming threat of high water. Please remember that we are all in this together. We are now all experts at stepping up and helping each other, we will need these amazing community support skills in the coming weeks. Volunteers from WCDR will continue to work on helping families who are struggling with past disasters while keeping our eye on the water levels. Please note that we are looking into alternative ways to host our April 4th meeting and we will keep you all informed as we move forward with our plans. West Carleton Residents are coming together to help their neighbours. Please join your local group to offer or receive help. Have you started a group in your community or are using an existing group? Please let us know and we will add to our list. - Constance & Buckham’s Bay https://www.facebook.com/groups/134952127948414/?ref=share Visit the West Carleton Food Access Centre is you are in need of food and supplies during this period of social distancing. http://www.deeprootsfoodhub.ca/food-access-centre.html Visit our website westcarletonrelief.ca for links to the most up-to-date information on the outbreak.

Very interesting letter from MPP John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, he has ordered an Emergency Draw down of Round Lake to mitigate flooding during the spring freshet. I wonder which other dams have been issued this very strong letter.

This wonderful group of volunteers is in Constance Bay today going door-to-door to ensure that all flood-prone residents have access to information on recovery and the upcoming flood season. THANK YOU!!! Please go to westcarletonrelief.ca to complete the survey or message us if you have any questions.

WCDR is conducting a survey for flood-affected residents to ensure that you are on our mailing list and aware of the services, programs, and agencies that may be available to help and that all residents at risk have access to up-to-date information on flood risk, flooding, flood prevention, and recovery. If you are still recovering or facing issues you will have the opportunity at the end of this survey to agree for us to share your information with other agencies who may be... able to help you, without agreeing WCDR will not share any non-aggregate data. If you would like to be on our contact list for the upcoming highwater season or you are struggling to recover please fill out the required information below. Even if you do not need assistance please let us know so we can focus on neighbours who may not be doing as well. We will be starting a door-to-door survey next weekend and will be stopping in at all residents not on our list to make sure that there is no one struggling alone. Please help our volunteers and complete the survey online this week if you can. You will find the link at westcarletonrelief.ca or directly below. Volunteer welcome, pls private message us!

Does anyone out there know of someone with expertise in database/CMS/SQL? Especially the google system. WCDR really needs to move to a content management systems but us volunteers are a little out of our depth in finding one that will work for us. We need some expertise to guide us to the most suitable system. Please pm us or email [email protected]