Floodwaters still rising

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While the sun may be shining, many parts of Southern Ontario are still under water. The water level of Lake Ontario continues to rise and municipalities are still working around the clock with flooding.

Lake Front Park in Port Dalhousie remains underwater and high water levels have washed over most of the sandy beach. Water has even surged past the fences city crews put along the piers over a week ago.

Crowds of people were out examining the damage from this weekend’s rain storm- some even out on kayaks. And many in disbelief.

City crews were out sandbagging the base of one of the lighthouses this morning. That’s on top of the 200 or more calls for flooded basements and blocked catch basins crews that been working on.

“When we have an event like this we basically shut down all non-essential services and group crews to go out and deal with all the storm related issues.” explained Darrell Smith who works for the City of St. Catharines.

As the rain water works its way down rivers and creeks, the water levels in Lake Ontario are expected to climb and it could be weeks before the levels return to normal.

Niagara Public Health is also reminding people who drink from wells to test their water after heavy rain storms.

According to an independent environmental organization – water samples taken from the Toronto Harbour this past week found the levels of e.coli were at least 16 times higher than what is considered safe for human contact.

The Niagara region will begin testing the lake for e-coli and other bacteria next week.