Managing Notification and Action During Flood Emergencies

High water events in spring can be damaging to shorelines. Luckily, spring flooding doesn’t often affect GLPOA members, but the extreme levels in the spring of 2008 did cause some damage. The best way to prepare is to be well-informed and to know what you can do to protect your property.

In the fall of 2009, the Golden Lake Property Owners Association helped to initiate an emergency communications system to warn people about flooding potential and to help them to prepare. Since then the system has been refined and is now mostly in the hands of Renfrew Power Generation which manages the levels through adjustments to the dams at Tramore and Golden Lake.

Here is where to find current information before and during the spring freshet: Renfrew Power Generation

Below the water level charts is the list of our partners in the water levels communications group.

If there is a risk of flooding, get your bags and sand from the townships:
BVT: Steve Fiegan – 613-628-5914
KHR: Janice Visneskie – 613- 625-1343
NAW: Deborah Farr- 613-717-1108

Sandbag dykes

The most common emergency floodproofing technique entails stacking sandbags in such a way as to form a barrier against rising floodwaters. The bags must be strong enough to hold the sand or fill and withstand contact with water indefinitely. It is best to use burlap and plastic bags designed for that purpose and to use a durable plastic sheet to prevent the seepage of water through the dyke.

Since water exerts pressures against the sandbag dyke, if at all possible a trench should be dug to prevent the dyke from moving. Other methods of anchoring the dyke include placing the bottom of the dyke against or on permanent features, e.g., a ditch, a raised roadbed, a foundation wall etc.

The bags should not be totally filled with sand. This allows one to overlap the other and serves to lock the bags together. In addition, the bags should be placed so that each layer is put at right angles to the layers above and below, adding stability to the structure.

sandbags

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