Ottawa Flooding

Margot, Glosette Girl and I were in the Aylmer, Quebec area this past weekend and snatched a glimpse of the Ottawa river. It's incredibly swollen and has spilled its banks everywhere along both sides of the border.

Bike path...gone

Actually there are reports that some parts of Ottawa and Aylmer/Gatineau are experiencing the worst flooding ever. It's so sad to listen to the stories in the news about people whose homes have been flooded.  There is a lot of talk of requiring people in these flood prone areas to move or buying them out. The problem is that in many cases some of the poorest areas have been hit and the residents who live there couldn't afford to move even if they wanted to.

One way or another, something has got to change. The Ottawa river is just too powerful to hold back forever and with climate change causing regular "floods of the century" every two years ago what used to be high and dry land is now a flood plain.

Imagine trying to stop that with sandbags...