(North Bay July 19, 2021) Significant local rainfall amounts have been received around the City of North Bay due to the ongoing thunderstorms in the area, prompting the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority to issue a Flood Warning for Chippewa Creek and a Water Safety Statement for the remainder of the watershed.
“The Chippewa Creek water level gauge indicates that the creek has risen approximately 1.1m over the past hour and is currently around 10cm above its top of bank level at the gauge location,” said Kurtis Romanchuk, NBMCA Duty Officer.
Continued precipitation is possible this evening and overnight, as the thunderstorms make their way across the area. Urbanized watercourses, including Chippewa Creek, have risen quickly following the intense rainfall, and may continue to rise. Watercourses in rural areas will respond more slowly but may show a water level increase over the coming hours or days.
Flood Warning notifies that flooding is imminent or already occurring in specific watercourses or municipalities. Municipalities and individuals should take action to deal with flood conditions. This may include road closures and evacuations.
Watershed Conditions Statement - Water Safety indicates that high flows, unsafe banks, or other factors could be dangerous for users such as anglers, boaters, swimmers, children or pets. Flooding is not expected. For areas other than stated above within the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority jurisdiction a Watershed Conditions Statement – Water Safety remains in effect.
If you have a flood emergency, please contact your municipality. If you live in an unincorporated township, please contact the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry – North Bay District.
Municipalities are encouraged to monitor shorelines and water crossings and respond to high water levels as necessary.
A close watch on local conditions and updated forecasts and warnings from Environment Canada is also recommended. Staff at the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority will continue to monitor weather and watershed conditions and provide updates if conditions change.
The general public is advised of these messages through the www.nbmca.ca website with the flood status icon and a link to information about current conditions. NBMCA also circulates these messages to local media and social media, posting on Twitter @theNBMCA, Instagram nbmcainfo, and Facebook theNBMCA.
The public is invited to share photos of watershed conditions on social media using #NBMCAFlood.
This message will be in effect until (or updated before) Wednesday, July 21, 5:00pm.
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