Major flood forces residents in Bolton to evacuate

March 18, 2019 · 0 Comments

About 250 people in Bolton were evacuated from their homes after a heavy flood spilled on the streets on Friday, March 15.

Six ice jams that blocked the flow of water caused the Humber River to burst its banks. Caledon OPP, York Regional Police and other emergency personnel rushed immediately on the scene blocking King Street East between David Street and Evans Ridge.

Evacuees were initially transferred to the Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness at 14111 Hwy 50 to stay overnight. Staff from the Region of Peel then brought them over to the Hampton Inn and Suites.

“The water has gone back,” said Mayor Allan Thompson at a media conference on Saturday, March 16. “Pretty much, all the water has left the roads and a lot of the private properties now. People are still pumping out their basements, but a lot of people we’re allowed to move back home. The ones that are behind the yellow tape here, some of the homes have flood conditions were the hydro and gas has been shut off.”

Darryl Bailey, Caledon Fire and Emergency Services Chief said they reached out to residents on social media to contact them about their homes.

“We currently don’t have a lot of contacts for all the residents that were evacuated in the area, but we are inviting the residents to either contact the Red Cross or come to the emergency scene to our command post and we’ll log you in with the command post,” said Bailey. “At that point, you’ll be able to do a site visit back to your house and our intention is to try to release as many homes as we can back. As you can imagine, some of these homes are well beyond damaged.”

Read Thursday’s issue of the Caledon Citizen for the full story