2023 spring freshet flood stats

(Editor’s note: As we did during the 2017 flood, 2018 tornado, 2019 flood and COVID-19 pandemic, we are making our coverage of potential extreme flooding in 2023 free access to our entire community providing flooding updates, on-site coverage, important information and resources to West Carleton and beyond, so those outside the area can also better understand what is happing in our rural community)

WEST CARLETON – As spring slides in to summer, Ward 5 Coun. Clarke Kelly’s office is crunching the numbers following the 2023 spring freshet that saw extreme flooding in several West Carleton communities.

“By the first weekend of June, most residents along the Ottawa River could refer to the spring flood of 2023 as a thing of the past,” Kelly released in a statement today (June 2). “All it took was two months of anxiety, countless hours of hard work and approximately 170,000 sandbags.”

The 2023 spring freshet peaked at Britannia Bay at 60.35 metres above sea level according to the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board:

• 2023 peaked at 60.35 m on May 5
• 2019 peaked at 60.68 m on April 30
• 2017 peaked at 60.44 m on May 7

Approximately 160 homes used sandbags to protect their properties this year. Kelly would like to thank the hundreds of residents who stepped up throughout April and May to help their neighbours prepare for and clean up from spring flooding.

“West Carleton Disaster Relief (WCDR) was instrumental in coordinating much of the volunteer work in West Carleton, to fill sandbags, distribute information and recover sandbags after the water subsided,” Kelly said.

Other groups pitched in:

• Christian Aid Ministries, in partnership with WCDR, coordinated much of the sandbag removals between Dunrobin and Constance Bay
• Ottawa Volunteer Search and Rescue provided three days of sandbag filling, deployment and support
• Independent community volunteers coordinated local cleanups in Willola Beach and Vydon Acres
• Students at West Carleton Secondary School and All Saints High School combined to provide 15,000 filled sandbags

These efforts supported the work of city staff, who filled approximately 80,000 sandbags as well as:

• visited 340 homes in West Carleton and Cumberland to provide information about flooding preparation and recovery
• delivered 173 loads of sand and maintained 28 sand filling stations
• maintained 15 portable washrooms

“More than 10,000 unused filled sandbags are leftover after this year’s efforts,” Kelly said. “They will remain in storage until they are needed next.”

City staff works with conservation authorities each spring to monitor and respond to conditions on all Ottawa’s rivers each spring. For more information on conservation authorities, flood cleanup in 2023 or flood preparation for future years, visit the the 2023 spring freshet that saw extreme flooding in several West Carleton communities web page on ottawa.ca.

Residents in West Carleton who still need to dispose of used sandbags are asked to leave them for curbside pickup by 9 a.m. on Monday, June 12, which is the date of the last special curbside pick-up.