City prepares for a flood season without volunteers

Staff with the City of Ottawahave been filling thousands of sandbags in case the Ottawa Riverfloods again this yearbecause they know volunteers won't be an option during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employees, some from recreation centres that are temporarily closed,began the preparationsat a garage in Ottawa's rural west end last week, according to Coun. Eli El-Chantiry. Theyhave been following the advice of public health officials and keeping a safe physical distance from one another, while alsousing tractors and other machinery to do the job.

"We need to be prepared. Without the volunteers, it's going tobe very difficult. It's just not possible to do what we did last time,"said El-Chantiry, who is the council lead on this year's spring melt while the mayor is focusedonCOVID-19.

Last spring, 15,000 volunteers helped fill 1.5 million sandbags.

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El-Chantiry and city managementwill give city council an update about flood risk and preparations during its meeting Wednesday.

El-Chantiry said the City of Ottawadoesn't expect to see the devastating water levels that flooded homesboth in 2017 and last spring, and he hopes noemergency develops when the city is already strained by the virus.

But he said last year,things changed quickly over the course of Apriland the same could happen again, depending on how snow melts up northor if there is alot of rain.

"Our residents, including myself, we are nervous. We are concerned that if it's going to happen, how prepared can we be under the circumstances of physical distancing?"

By this weekend, city staff hope to drop off 20,000 sandbags at the most at-risk areas along the Ottawa River.