Large pieces of ice left along shoreside of Grand River after floods in Brantford, Ont.
Christina Mulherin
Nearly five thousand Brantford residents were still not allowed back in their homes on Thursday due to major floods.
An emergency evacuation notice urged residents to leave their homes on Wednesday when several areas of Brantford began to flood. Water levels on the ground the Grand River rose up to 6.9 metres, leading to the temporary closure of bridges and main roads.
City of #Brantford has declared a state of emergency due to the flood crisis unfolding. Neighbourhoods of Holmedale, Old West Brant and Eagle Place affected. Residents are “STRONGLY URGED” to evacuate immediately. Details on the situation, here: https://t.co/kK16FBeIvp #onstorm pic.twitter.com/sv1tPDVRJE
— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) February 21, 2018
The water was significantly lower on Thursday, but many of these roads were still closed and the evacuation order remained in place.
Many residents were fortunate enough to have friends and relatives welcome them into their homes. But a number of other residents wound up in one of two local emergency evacuation shelters, at Woodman Park Community Centre or Assumption College.
Some of the evacuees even showed up with their family pets, which unfortunately could not stay at the shelters due to lack of supplies to accommodate them. The animals are being sent to the local SPCA’s temporary location.
The Brant County SPCA‘s primary location is on Mohawk street, which is in one of the areas that had to be evacuated. All the animals from the Mohawk street shelter were brought to a temporary refuge in a hangar at the Brantford airport.
Robin Kuchma, executive director of the Brant County SPCA says her team is at both resident shelter locations talking with pet owners and gathering important information on their pets. The animals are then transported offsite to the SPCA facility to be cared for and treated as needed.
Despite having to shelter and care for a larger amount of animals, Kuchma says the location has the capacity to take them all in.
“We’re actually in a bigger building, it’s just not an actual animal shelter,” Kuchma said.
The SPCA will care for evacuated residents’ pets until it is safe for their owners to go back into their homes.
The evacuation has not yet been called off but Brantford mayor Chris Friel said in a press conference held on Thursday morning, that there is significant damage to some of the 22 hundred evacuated homes.