Community members helping community members as State of Emergency declared in Sioux Lookout

Tim Brody - Editor

The Municipality of Sioux Lookout has declared a State of Emergency due to localized flooding being experienced in certain areas of the community.
“The rationale for declaring a State of Emergency is twofold: first, we wanted to ensure that residents would be able to access available resources and their insurance coverage by underscoring the seriousness of the localized flooding in Sioux Lookout,” explained Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance in a May 24 media release. He added, “and second, in the unlikely event that the Municipality may be able to access Provincial resources to assist with infrastructure recovery efforts, we wanted to have the Emergency Declaration in place to facilitate such access if and when it becomes available.”
“Our Public Works Department, with the assistance of staff deployed from other departments, have been working tirelessly to mitigate the impact of flooding throughout the community, and have been continuing to make sandbags available to the public,” Municipal CAO Michelle Larose noted.
The Municipality advised that members of the public are invited to continue to fill their sandbags at the Third Avenue Sports Complex.
Larose further explained that the Municipality of Sioux Lookout is continuing to work with the Province to have the Municipality designated a flood area. 
“If the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing declares Sioux Lookout a flood area, individuals may be eligible for the province’s disaster mitigation relief funding, the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program. Details are available at
https://www.ontario.ca/page/apply-disaster-recovery-assistance,” The Municipality of Sioux Lookout advised, adding, “Those seeking funding will need to apply directly to the Province, but must first exhaust any insurance coverage they are entitled to. We will update the public if the Minister makes this declaration.
“In the meantime, it would be helpful to know how many property owners have suffered damage to their principal residence or business. Please contact the Municipality to share this information at 737-2700 during regular business hours. You may also email [email protected] to share your information.”
Sioux Lookout resident Dick MacKenzie is one of many who have suffered property damage due to the high water, although he is quick to point out that others have suffered far worse.
In addition to having a boat sink, MacKenzie shared, “I’ve got docks tied to trees, I’ve got boats floating but tied to trees in the yard, can’t use any of the docks, they’re just tied to keep them from floating away. I know at our house the bank is eroding quite a bit. My hot tub deck, the pilings that it’s built on are underwater, so the deck itself is still well above water, but the base is eroding, the base around the house, if a foot or so erodes from the bank it’s probably going to take our deck with it. So, it’s a concern for sure. Again, while I say that, I don’t want to take away from the misery other people are having because some houses and locations are far worse off than we are. They’ve already either lost their houses or need a boat to get from their driveway to their house. Some have had their houses inundated with water. A lot of people with pumps that are taking their water out of the lake have had to disconnect their pumps. Pump houses and boat houses and other shoreline accessories they have are underwater. A friend’s boathouse has more than four feet of water inside it right now. So, a lot of people are just experiencing great misery and I know they’re hoping for the water to go down, and I’m sure it will, I don’t know when.”
Like many in town, MacKenzie has been keeping track of the rising water and commented, “Since ice out, I’ve observed a rise in level every single day. I’ve been taking readings at my camp and at home and Darrell Morgan and I have been comparing notes, he’s been taking measurements at his house in town, just across the bay from me and also at his island up toward Minnitaki Lake. So, we’ve compared notes and in a general way we’re on the same track, the water’s rising, it’s continuing and the best news I think for most people who are affected by the water levels is that the rate has slowed down an awful lot. I think for the last two days we’ve figured it’s been rising about an inch a day, maybe a little less than that.”
Asked how high he thinks the water may have risen this spring he responded, “Seven or eight feet I think is a reasonable guess, might even be a little more than that. I can tell you by measuring my sunken boat, how much it’s sticking out.”
Having lived along the shore of Pelican Lake on Lakeshore Drive for almost 50 years, MacKenzie said of this spring’s water levels, “This is the highest I’ve ever seen it, but I have seen it pretty close to this on one or two occasions, but this is the highest that I’ve seen it.”
Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance also resides on Lakeshore Drive and has been keeping track of the rising water as well.
He agreed with MacKenzie stating, “It’s flattening out and let’s hope it goes no higher and starts to go down.”
Lawrance shared, “We’re pushing with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to have Sioux Lookout declared a flood area. That would probably be of more significant help to individual residents, to receive the Disaster Relief Assistance for Ontarians that the province offers, but you need to be declared a flood area by the province. We are working hard to have that happen.”
He added, “We’re grateful many people have shared information with us and all that will form part of the record and part of, we hope, the evidence to show that we are indeed a flood area.”
Lawrance advised, “I know that senior administration are in contact on a daily basis. I do know that the disaster people at the province… there were significant storms in southern Ontario that have required considerable attention of the province, perhaps the north is farther away, we’re trying to keep our situation in front of them, we’re sorry for all the things that are happening in the south, but we too have our own situation. I’m sure they have limited resources, but we’d like them to apply some of them to us.”
“Our hearts go out to all those that are deeply impacted, have been dislocated or are fighting to protect their homes and property. We commend the tremendous volunteerism and neighbour helping neighbour or just helping the community with physical labour, just a real show of the goodness of people to help others.
“I think I’d also like to make special commendation of municipal staff who are working so hard through this. We too have limited resources. We don’t have a huge public works department and the staff there have been working incredibly hard to do the best they can not only to protect municipal infrastructure and keep it open as best they can but helping citizens as best they can,” he concluded.
Sioux North High School Teacher Janine Lavoie was at the outdoor sports complex last Friday afternoon with her Grade 9 Phys. Ed class.
“There was another call to help today,” she shared. “I came out with my other class yesterday morning and we filled about 125 (sandbags) and loaded up three trucks worth yesterday morning and then we actually delivered 100 yesterday, but the call came out today for more, so we decided to come out and lend a hand. Sacred Heart also had a nice crew out here filling… and some MNR firefighters were out here today as well, and the George family was out today… There’s a huge need around the community and everybody’s just trying to pitch in and help out.”
Sioux North High School Principal Darryl Tinney agreed, stating, “We have had many classes and students helping out this week and last week.  It has been very rewarding to see the community pride that our students and staff have demonstrated!  I have signed more community hour sheets in the past week than the entire year!”
Sacred Heart School Principal Emily Hamilton confirmed that two classes from the school, Mrs. Caul’s Grade 7s and Mr. Fairchild’s 5/6 classes, helped fill sandbags at the outdoor sports complex last Friday.
“Their work connects our virtue, Community Service. Students passionately filled bags of sand knowing the impact the water levels have had on many people in our own community. To highlight the success of the day, Casey George and Olivia Gaudry, filled 75 bags together today. Many more were prepared. Some people might not realize that people who need sandbags to protect their home or property have had to fill the bags of sand when needed. Our students hoped they could lessen the burden just a little bit in such a stressful time for so many Sioux Lookout residents. A goal of our school this year has been to ‘put our faith into motion’ and I’m so proud that our staff and students have stepped up in this way.”
Fairchild shared, “I was inspired (hearing about others volunteering to sandbag in the community) and I figured (our school) could pitch in. We were talking about solidarity during Christian living, and the need to take an active role in our own community (stewardship). I talked about how people are communicating with each other about missing dock pieces. One student mentioned how they have already done sandbagging with their family. Might as well ‘walk the walk’ instead of just talking about it!”
Grade 7 Teacher, Jaime Caul added, “We are so proud of how hard our students worked to help our community. By working together, we filled over 400 bags of sand and helped a few local residents load sandbags into their vehicles. Our students were able to show that in a time of need, they upheld the virtues and solidarity that we hope to instill in our youth. Great work.”
The Municipality is asking the public to remember not to drink water from the lakes, or from wells that may have been compromised due to the flooding situation.
The Municipality further advised in a May 27 social media post, “Please note that while we are now making Boat Launch passes available to the public, we are urging extreme caution when using these facilities due to the flooding conditions. More specifically, please note:
•    Currently, docks are installed at the following locations: Boat Bay; Botham’s Bay; Deception Bay; Sturgeon River; and West Hudson. The boat launches at Superior Junction is accessible, but the water is extremely high. The ramps are under water. These locations are to be used at your own risk only. 
•    The Five Mile boat launch is extremely unsafe at the moment and should not be used. The ramp is underwater and the secondary ramp is unavailable as the dock is currently tied up and floating in that area. Water has also entered into the parking area. 
•    Water levels at West Point Cove are also extremely high and the docks are in but barricaded off for safety reasons. Water levels have reached the end of the ramp, but it is still possible to launch from West Point Cove. Extreme caution is urged when using this location. Additionally, if launching from West Point Cove, please note that the water levels in Pelican Lake are very high, and there is minimal clearance if travelling under the Iron Bridge (CN rail bridge) – we recommend avoiding travelling under the bridge at this time.”