‘We are not out of the water yet’: Minden still under state of emergency

While flood conditions have improved in Minden Hills, the Township is still not out of the water yet.

What a difference a day can make. Just ask people who live in flooded out Minden.

“It’s gotten a lot better this morning,” says Brent Cartwright, a Minden resident. “Cautiously optimistic we are just hoping the river doesn’t come back up again.”

The Gull River looked a lot different on Tuesday from Monday. However, the state of emergency that was declared in the small town remains in effect. While residents and the fire chief say things have improved greatly, there is still lots of water and risk.

“We are not completely out of the water yet,” says Chief Don Kruger with the Minden Hills Fire Department. “Water levels will continue to fluctuate if we do get more rain during the week. Levels may come up a little bit but things are moving in the right direction.”

Sandbags remain leaning up next to homes and businesses. Flooded out roads are still an issue. The bridges in town will remain closed until further inspection. Life won’t be back to normal for some time but the town is working together moving sandbags to new locations, just in case. Many people are volunteering their time to assist fire crews and the Township with bagging.

• IN PICTURES: Widespread flooding impacts communities across the region

“I came out Tuesday night with a group and then more people showed up and there was maybe 50 or 60 of us in our group at one point and we all kind of worked together and checked on people who needed bags,” says Pete Kitcheman, a Minden resident.

“This has just been a God send,” says Julie Hotte, a Minden resident. “If it wasn’t for the volunteers here in Minden, we would have lost our house and everything else. They are angels.”

Mayor of Minden Bob Carter says the forecast is calling for a much-needed five break from rain.

“Because we have this respite, we’ve been able to work with Parks Canada to determine what level we’re going to find acceptable going through the town and so they will control the release of water to the north and let us move it through in an ordinary fashion,” says Carter.

Kruger says the state of emergency will remain in effect until at least next week. The town will reevaluate that designation until after the weekend.

Property owners are being encouraged to leave their sandbags where they are for the time being, just in case.