The City of Ottawa remains under a state of emergency, as a result of ongoing flooding, but officials are starting to move into cleanup mode.
Emergency and Protective Services Manager Anthony Di Monte told City Council Wednesday morning the City is now in need of cleanup volunteers.
“The City is ready to recall volunteers to help with the recovery phase,” Di Monte said. “More than ever, if you’re a qualified volunteer, your help is needed.”
The volunteers will remove the more than 1.5 million sandbags that were filled around the city. They will also be tasked with removing flood-related debris.
Di Monte says the City is also working with a non-governmental organization called Alliance Ontario, which will work inside homes to remove things like damaged furniture, appliances and carpeting.
While the City is getting ready for the cleanup, the councillor who represents the hardest hit area wants more answers as to how this flooding was able to get so bad.
West Carleton–March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry tabled a motion Wednesday calling on the mayor to formally request the Provincial and Federal governments investigate the management of dams and reservoirs on the Ottawa River, to determine if any human error may have led to the catastrophic flooding seen in Ottawa.
El-Chantiry says many residents are seeing very low water levels upstream and they have questions that he feels remain unanswered.
“We’d just like a full investigation to find out what took place and what’s taking place so we can have a separate discussion with other levels of government,” El-Chantiry said.
El-Chantiry’s motion was written hastily, he said, after hearing the update from Di Monte, but said City Staff could improve it.
Mayor Jim Watson said he would work on a formal letter of request for both levels of government, in consultation with Council and Staff, to be sent at a later date.
El-Chantiry wants not only the 2019 flooding investigated, but the circumstances around the events in 2017 as well.
The Mayor also confirmed at Wednesday's council meeting that he and Coun. El-Chantiry will be present at a Province-led task force meeting this Friday.
