Residents who live along Lake Erie need more protection from the wind and the waves.
That's according to Chatham-Kent Councillor Karen Herman after she saw first-hand some of the flooding that took place near Erieau earlier this week during windy conditions.
"To see the water crashing over the breakwalls... I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what can you do for these folks?'" says Herman. "You can't stop the water, but it's about how do we mitigate the challenge?"
Flooding along Erie Shore Dr. May 2, 2017 (Photo courtesy of Kathy Noble with the Erieau Marina)
After seeing the flooding on Tuesday, Herman is renewing her call for funding from the upper levels of government for a shoreline strategy.
She says part of the problem is that individual residents are required to install their own breakwalls -- and not all of them are up to the same standard.
"If you've got someone down the road that, for whatever reason, can't afford it, or maybe they're absent, that breakwall could be the reason why we've got the [flooding] through maybe ten lots," says Herman. "Personally, I feel frustrated for [the residents]... I know we're talking dollars -- I don't know what that could be, but the partners have to get involved, federally."
Herman says she's expecting to see a report go to Chatham-Kent Council in about a month that she hopes will have a reasonable solution for the residents who live along the water.