Citing decreasing demand, the City of North Bay is cutting back its sandbag efforts.
It will continue to make sand and sandbags available to residents but will be scaling back starting this weekend.
"There will be no drop-offs to residents this weekend and filling stations at Public Works on Franklin Street, Sunset Park at the end of Sunset Boulevard and Champlain Park at the end of Premier Road will no longer be operated by staff as of Monday," says spokesman Gord Young. "Sand and sandbags will still be made available and each of the stations has been stocked with a number of prefilled bags. Resources will ramp back up at the sites if required."
The lake level is still rising and the City is advising residents to monitor conditions during the weekend as the weather could impact water levels and the potential for damage along the Lake Nipissing shoreline.
The forecast is calling for a total of up to 35 mm of rainfall within the entire watershed over the course of the weekend; and possible southwest winds, with gusts of up to 30 kilometers per hour, could impact the Lake Nipissing shoreline in North Bay on Monday.
The lake level is currently at 196.51 meters and is expected – depending on the weather – to continue to rise by half a centimeter over the next several days. Inflow to Lake Nipissing is still greater than outflow and the potential remains for flooding in low-lying areas. The situation is being reassessed daily.
