State of Emergency Declared in Fort Frances

A state of emergency has been declared in Fort Frances.

Heavy rain Friday night and Saturday morning resulted in a pumping station near the Memorial Sports Centre to fail.

Town spokesperson Patrick Briere says crews have been working around the clock to keep water flowing.

“It (got) to a point overnight last night where we had a critical infrastructure failure at one of our lift stations. We have crews on scene. They’ve been working all night, and they continue to work to alleviate the problems and the back-ups. We are pushing at 100% capacity for water right now,” says Briere.

Briere says residents should ensure their sump pumps are flowing outside.

He says they have talked about getting residents to conserve water, but no decision has been made.

“We’re just asking the residents to ensure their sump pumps are discharging outside now. We haven’t gotten to the point where we’re asking for the reduction in usage yet, but it is something that has been discussed at our table and will be discussed further as that as the situation unfolds,” says Briere.

Briere and Mayor June Caul toured the town Saturday morning.

There was flooding of the Portage Avenue underpass, but that cleared up once pumps there kicked into operation.

Point Park is under water and is now closed to the public.

“So just stay out of that area for sure and stay out of the areas where crews and contractors are working. Just let them do their jobs safely. We do have some portable pumps in some areas of town, and we are working in the arena area right now as a core operation right now. So if people could just stay away from those areas and let town crews work, it’ll help us get through things faster.”

There are also reports of flooding in other parts of the Rainy River District.

Some rural roads are completely underway water.

Environment Canada is forecasting more rain Saturday night and Sunday morning before it changes to snow and ice pellets Sunday afternoon.