Kemptville, Ont. residents come together as properties flood

KEMPTVILLE, ONT. -

A flood warning remains in effect for the Rideau Valley watershed following Wednesday's ice storm.

Many in the Kemptville area have properties under water.

Mark Visser's front lawn is completely flooded.

"You move stuff off the floor… hopefully it won't get wet and you hope for the best," he said.

Rising water levels, coupled with an ice storm and the immediate melt pushed the Rideau River higher.

• RELATED: Eastern Ontario conservation authority issues flood warning

"It all melted very quickly and the water rose really high," said Paul Charlebois, whose property has also flooded. "All of these cottages around here, I'm sure their basements are flooded."

Charlebois's back yard now looks like an extension of the Rideau. His fire pit and chairs are submerged. The dock was smashed up by ice that crashed ashore during Wednesday's storm.

Power was out and roads were covered by water. Many residents opted to get around on all-terrain vehicles. Others hunkered down.

"We didn’t get to go to Brantford because you can’t leave your house when it’s getting flooded," said Karen Mulder. "We had no power in between as well from the ice storm. We were okay."

While the water has receded significantly since Wednesday's ice storm, residents say that when all of the water clears away, there will still be a major cleanup.

With that work still ahead, the tight-knit community plans to come together to help in the aftermath of the storm and the highest water levels seen in years.

"It's after flooding, that's all the work that you have to do," Charlebois says.

Lengthy power outages caused by the storm added to the difficulties many residents had to deal with.

"Others down the road, their basements flooded and sump pumps with no power... it was clearly devastating," said Brandon Lesway. 

The water came in quick, leaving residents scrambling to save their belongings.

"You couldn’t really go outside to pick anything up because we had no power … we didn’t have a chance, she was fast and furious this time," Karen Mulder explained.

The water started to receded Monday—down about eight inches, according to residents—but there are still challenges ahead as people start to clean up.

Residents say they hope this flood is "one and done" and the waters don't surge again with the spring melt, as temperatures skyrocket this week.