Ottawa River levels stabilizing, but still high

Water levels on the Ottawa River continue to stabilize, bringing hope to communities along the shoreline if not immediate relief.

In its Sunday update, the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board (ORRPB) said between 45 and 90 millimetres of rain fell acrossthe river's basin between April 29 and May 3, causing the river's flows and levels to increase rapidly.

Water levels have now peaked between Mattawa and Hawkesbury, Ont., and are slowly declining, the planning board said.

With sunny weather forecasted over the next few days, the board said levels are expected to continue declining slowly along the river.

In Ottawa, volunteers were out over the weekend filling sandbags in the community of Constance Bay, one of the city's hardest-hit areas.

Even with that gradual decline underway, river levels won't change significantly for some time, said West Carleton-March Coun. Clarke Kelly, who represents the community.

"It's going to stay fairly stable at the levels we're at now, which are in major flooding territory like, we're very close to what we saw in 2017," Kelly said Sunday.

"Just right here in Constance Bay, there's many homes that are affected, not justalong the river. There's groundwater coming up from everywhere. Many, many people are pumping water out of their basements. It's not a very fun situation."

On Friday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffeposted a video of some of the flooding, while calling on people to come down to the Constance Bay Community Centre and pitch in.

In an update earlier in the week, the City of Ottawa said sandbags had gone up at around 130 private properties. Most of those arein the West Carleton-March ward, which includes Constance Bay.

The city warned boaters Sunday to stay off the Ottawa River, as boating close to the shore could cause wakes and "contribute to additional damage to homes and flood barriers."

Gatineau expects slow decrease

The City of Gatineau said Sunday thatwater levels are expected to decrease shortly,but will remain high and could rise again in the event of rainfall.

Property owners on the shorelines should keep sandbags and any other protections in place, the city said in a statement.Drivers who encounter roads that are submerged should go slowly to avoid creating potentially damaging waves.

As of Sunday, 137 residents were being housed in hotels and receiving care from the Canadian Red Cross, the city said.

The federal government has also temporarily bannedwatercraft on the Quebec side of the river, the city said. The prohibition runs from L'Isle-aux-Allumettes to the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, and then on to Masson-Angers.

Elsewhere in the Outaouais, more than 170 properties were stilleither flooded or cut off Saturday in the community of Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Que.

"People are frustrated, very stressed. They're asking, 'Are we going to be flooded again in another year?' Mayor Sandra Armstrong said in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada.

"For some residents, it brings back memories of the floods of 2019. So we always have that fear. We really hope there will be no rain."

In Ottawa and Gatineau, this week's forecastcalls almost exclusively forsunshine, with a chance of showers fromThursday evening into Friday.