The Municipality of Sioux Lookout has declared a State of Emergency.
The move has been made because water levels continue to rise and localized flooding has occured.
Chief Administrative Officer Michelle Larose says they continue to work with the province to have the Municipality designated as a flood area.
Larose says Public Works, with assistance of staff deployed from other departments, have been working tirelessly to mitigate the impact of flooding, and have been continuing to make sand bags available to the public.
Mayor Doug Lawrence says the declaration is to ensure residents have access to available resources and insurance coverage and the Municipality may be able to access provincial resources to assist with infrastructure recovery, if the government makes it available.
Municipal officials are also trying to determine the extent of the damage and encouraging residents and businesses to contact them at 737-2700 or email customerservice@siouxlookout.ca to share information.
A reminder from staff:
• Please remember not to drink water from the lakes, or from wells that may have been compromised due to the flooding situation;
• When enjoying boating or other water-based recreational activities, please remember that there is a lot of debris in the area lakes due to the flooding – this
debris can be a hazard to boaters; additionally, given the high-water levels, markers may have moved, rocks that are normally visible may be covered, etc. We
also ask boaters to refrain from coming too close to shore to avoid creating waves onshore which can exacerbate the impact of flooding in low-lying areas
