'Confident in the weather forecasting': Chatham-Kent lifts Erie Shore Drive state of emergency

A state of emergency that's been in place in Chatham-Kent since the end of August has officially been lifted.

The municipality made the announcement in a Monday Facebook post, informing residentsthe road from Bisnett Line to Erieau Road has been reopened for local traffic only.

"Municipal work crews have completed repairs to the dike including reinforcement and paving at a number of locations," reads an excerpt from the Monday post.

Chatham-Kent first declared a state of emergency on Aug. 27, as a result of flooding caused by strong winds and high water levels along Erie Shore Drive.

Approximately 40 households along Erie Shore Drive were asked to voluntarily evacuate, with roughly 10 households choosing to stay despite warnings.

Coun. Trevor Thompson explained the decision to lift the state of emergency can only be made by Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff.

"We've gotten to a point where we're confident the road and the dike are stable enough that we can lift the state of emergency," said Thompson. "We're also confident in the weather forecasting leading up through the next week that we're not really anticipating anything in the way of major storms."

Watch Coun. Trevor Thompson describe theErie Shore Drive flooding onCBC Windsor News at 6with Chris Ensing from Aug.28:

Chatham-Kent Coun. Trevor Thompson on Erie Shore Drive flooding

5 years ago

Duration 4:29

Chatham-Kent Coun. Trevor Thompson said he couldn't undersell "how bad some of the homes look," while speaking to CBC Windsor News at 6 host Chris Ensing.

According to Environment Canada, Chatham-Kent is one of the municipalities under a heat warning over the next two days.

Thompson clarified that flooding in the area wasn't caused by heavy rainfall, but by strong winds.

"Thunderstorms aren't that much of a concern, nor is torrential rains, actually," he said. "These are wind events more than anything."

For now, however, Thompson said the municipality will be keeping an eye "on the sails and weather vanes, but it appears to be smooth sailing until we move into the gales of November."

"We'll just hope they don't come early," he said.

'A positive thing'

Windsor resident Terra Cadeau, who owns a cottage in Chatham-Kent and is part of the Erie Shore Drive Property Owners Association, said the municipality's decision to lift the state of emergency "means that we can start to move forward with some solution and possibly look at short-term and long-term support for folks that are still working to put their lives back together."

Cadeau's own property was severely affected by flooding.

"We cannot move back in," she said. "Ours is damaged too greatly for that. We were down there this weekend to start to rip out drywall and the flooring and try and stabilize things as much as we can."

Cadeau previously told CBC News that she expected "at least 50 per cent" of her cottage to be affected by high water levels.

Listen to Terra Cadeau discuss Erie Shore Drive flooding withWindsor Morning's Peter Duck from Aug.28:

Nonetheless, Cadeau said the state of emergency's lifting is "a positive thing."

"In my mind, the next thing is coming together with the municipality and the various stakeholders within that drainage system to start to talk about a longer-term solution," she said.

Province to conduct disaster assessment

According to Chatham-Kent's Facebook post, "all levels of government are working to come up with a long-term solution to the flooding problem that has affected the area for many years."

Progressive Conservative Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls previously said that the province wouldn't take action in Chatham-Kent until the state of emergency is lifted.

Coun. Thompson said he hoped the province's disaster assessment team would visit the municipality within the next week, though he clarified that he doesn't have an exact date or time at this point.

"They come down and they survey the general area and the damage that a number of home sustained, because it's pretty clear that a number of homes sustained heavy damage to their exterior structure," he said.

"I hope and I fully expect that ... the province will be stepping up with a similar program with what they did when the Thames River floodedFebruary of last year," said Thompson.

Thompson added that the province's assessment team won't provide "nitty gritty details" about the damage sustained by individual properties, and homeowners likely won't need to be present while the province reviews properties.