Quinte residents and businesses still feeling effects of seasonal flooding

Meyers Pier uses floating docks, so when the water rises, they rise with it. The gangplank on this dock has been knocked loose during flooding and has yet to be repaired. Photo by Alan-Michael Steele, QNet News

By Alan-Michael Steele

BELLEVILLE – While the water levels in the Bay of Quinte have receded, spring floods from 2019 have caused damage that still hasn’t been repaired.

The boardwalk is normally elevated above the floating docks, with the gangplanks ramping downward. At the height of the spring 2019 flood, the floating docks rose above the boardwalk, causing the gangplanks to lift as high as six inches. Photo courtesy of Josh Cowan

The bay has risen to extremely high levels recently, with major floods in both spring 2017 and 2019. Josh Cowan, harbour supervisor at Meyers Pier, says the water level has receded since the most recent floods but is still much higher than is normally expected for this season.

Meyers Pier had some difficulty with the rising water. The boat-refueling station became flooded, which affected fuel sales. The higher water levels not only reduced revenue but also caused unexpected expenses, Cowan said.

“The water levels here normally fluctuate, and it’s something in our usual season – yes, we have to deal with it, ” Cowan told QNet News this week. But “the water fluctuations on a normal basis really equate to nothing for us. I may have to call a diver and have some chains tightened up, but we’re not reorganizing our gangplanks or having gravel delivered or shutting off hydro.” All those initiatives had to be made in the recent flooding.

Meyers Pier also faced challenges with keeping docks secured to the ground. Cowan said that once the water gets too high, anchor chains start to snap, and wind starts to drag the unsecured docks away. While the pier didn’t lose any docks last spring, it did lose the anchors, as divers were unable to find them at the bottom after the loose dock was secured.

Electrical systems at the Victoria Park docks were exposed to water. While they are designed to be water resistant, electricity was shut off to the docks to prevent safety concerns. Gravel was used to allow dry access to the dock as floodwater rose. Photo courtesy of Josh Cowan

There’s still visible damage in places. Security gates had to be cut off to allow the gangplanks to be moved so the docks could still be used, and in one place, the foundation for one of the docks is starting to tilt.

Victoria Park, another area under Cowan’s supervision, saw even worse flooding. Some docks had to have gravel paths built up to allow access to them. Electrical supply to those docks was also cut off when high water reached electrical equipment. Cowan told QNet that losing power for most of the season also meant that the pier at Victoria Park had to offer partial refunds, further reducing revenue.

Businesses aren’t the only ones affected. Local residents owning waterfront property are also feeling the effects of high water. Brian Christopher, who lives on a waterfront property in Quinte West’s Sidney Ward, suffered $90,000 in property damage from the destruction of a pair of sheds and a boathouse, and also erosion.

“It took off all the top of the soil, because of the wave action coming out of the southwest would roll right across our property, and right out the other side.” Christopher said. “It brought up the roots of a whole lot of trees as well.”

The water had risen enough at points that a sandbag wall was needed to keep the water off Christopher’s back door.

As flood waters recede, they reveals the extent of soil erosion, tearing up grass and leaving only barren dirt behind. Photo courtesy of Brian Christopher

After losing both his boathouse and the sheds to the rising water, Christopher built a single structure to replace them. This one was built with a concrete foundation secured into the ground, in order to prevent the same type of damage that ruined the old buildings.

To combat further erosion,Christopher also built a wall on his shoreline in 2017. When he had the wall built, he wasn’t expecting such high levels of water to recur in 2019, he said. Christopher told QNet he’s concerned that the high water level during the freeze may have damaged the wall, which would be another expensive repair after the spring thaw.