The city is setting up sandbag filling stations

The City is taking precautionary measures for flood prevention and property protection by making sand and sandbags available for residents in low-lying areas that may be at risk.
In addition to Public Works on Franklin Street, sandbag filling stations will be operating starting today .

They will be at Sunset Park at the end of Sunset Boulevard and Champlain Park at the end of Premier Road.

The stations will be open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says they want to be prepared and are watching the weather and Lake Nipissing closely.

“We’re watching the levels very closely. Our biggest concern right now is any wind that comes in. And whether the water levels will rise because of the waves. We’re anticipating that Lake Nipissing’s level is going to continue to rise,” he says

McDonald says they have been getting requests for sandbags already but they want to be prepared if conditions worsen.

“We had to order another 10 thousand so we have 10,000 ready to go. We did get a call on Monday night from Mattawa to help out but we were at critically low levels then and weren’t able to assist Mattawa,” he says.

Lake Nipissing’s level is at 196.36m and is expected to rise until its peak in approximately two weeks.

The current forecasted “worst case” peak water level for Lake Nipissing is 196.59m.

Lake Nipissing’s level has risen 129 cm since the Flood Warning was first issued on April 18.

The flood warning has been extended until May 13th.

(file photo from North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority)