Crews Work Late Into The Night To Fix Crow Lake And Cross Roads

Jeff Green | Jun 20, 2013

Oil clean-up takes a week

As reported last week, within a few short hours of presenting a proposed Beaver bylaw to Central Frontenac Council, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson was rushing over to the Crow Lake Road to deal with the washout of two roads and resulting damage to neighbouring properties, which was caused when an old beaver dam let out after major rainstorms in the preceding days.

The washout took place very close to the location where a home was destroyed in 2006, but fortunately this time around the damage was less severe. However, an outdoor oil tank was ripped off the wall of a waterfront home, and ended up submerged in Crow Lake. Fire crews retrieved the tank, but not before it had spilled much of its contents into the lake.

“The property owner’s insurance company covered the cost of the clean-up, which is fortunate,” said Central Frontenac Fire Chief Bill Young.

Although the main house, which is a summer rental property, was undamaged, an enclosed porch that was attached to it has been destroyed. The property owner will not be compensated for that damage, nor will neighbours who are facing relatively minor damage to their grounds and driveways.

“The insurance companies are telling them they are not covered for high water, although the water in this case did not come from the lake,” Young said.

As the result of the oil spilling into Crow Lake, a water advisory was issued by Kingston Frontenac Public Health. Residents living in the vicinity of the lake were told to monitor their well water.

“If your water smells like fuel oil, stop using the water for all activities, including bathing and doing laundry,” the caution said.

Even a week later, after crews had been working in the lake and on the shoreline, the advisory was still in place. The Ministry of the Environment, clean up crews, and municipal officials were to meet at the site on Wednesday, June 19 to make an assessment, and it is hoped the advisory can be lifted.

The water took out almost 500 metres of the Cross Road, which is located uphill from the Crow Lake Road, in addition to a smaller washout on Crow Lake Road. The Cross Road, which is a gravel road, was repaired by the following morning. The Crow Lake Road was re-opened within hours of the incident, but it will need a further repair in the coming weeks.

“The culvert which runs under the road was not damaged, but it is old and in need of replacing soon, and since we will have to do some other work to that road to ensure it is secure, we are going to replace the culvert as well,” said Mike Richardson.

He is hopeful that all of the clean up work and repairs can be completed without affecting the Public Works budget, although other scheduled work for this summer may be delayed as a result.

Crews from Canadian Pacific were also on site the day after the flood because the rail line runs between the height of land where the dam let out and the Cross Road. No damage was reported on the line, and although trains were slowed down on the night of the spill, traffic has resumed as normal.

The dam that burst is not in the same location as the one in 2006. Mike Richardson said that a new dam has replaced the one that let out in 2006, and it is holding back a deep pond that encompasses dozens of acres.

He will be meeting with CP officials at the site of that new dam to see if there is a way to release water in a controlled fashion and avoid a spill in the near future.

“The flood last week was not as severe by any means as the one in 2006,” said Richardson, “and we hope we can do something to avoid another large flood in the coming weeks or months."