A state of emergency remains in place for residents along Erie Shore Drive.
Voluntary evacuations were issued yesterday for 44 homes along the Lake Erie shoreline after strong winds and waves pounded the shore, damaging several homes and causing widespread flooding in the area.
Mayor Darrin Canniff says they’re doing everything they can to help affected residents.
“We’ve asked everyone to voluntarily leave, there’s some families that have chosen to stay, and the hydro’s being turned off here for safety reasons,” Canniff says. “All this is done for safety, we’re doing everything we can from a municipal perspective to aid in that, we’re offering free shelter for anyone that’s impacted, URide has stepped up and providing rides out for various things.”
Emergency crews went door to door to notify residents about the voluntary evacuation and that power was being shut off, but about 10 homeowners decided to stay put.
Public Works Director Ryan Brown says the road was initially shut down on Monday before the winds picked up.
“The wind has shifted out of the west a little more and the water going over the road has slowed down,” Brown explains. “However we’re still very concerned from an engineering perspective, we know we have very poor organic soils under this road and the saturation along the bank and now this ditch on the north side that’s eroded is causing great concern for us.”
Brown says they’ll continue monitoring the road, but it needs to dry up before any repairs can begin.
Officials say it’s too early at this point to determine the full extent of damage.
Mayor Canniff says this is a situation that’s not going away any time soon and the municipality needs help from both the federal and provincial governments to make any real, lasting improvements.