Warnings And Related News Advisories On Hurricane Sandy For Our Greater Niagara Region

By Doug Draper 

It is coming our way folks. And it may come crashing through within hours. This extraordinarily rare, high-power buzz saw of a storm called Hurricane Sandy promises to make quite the mess of our region on the continent.

Hurricane Sandy, from a view in space, racing up to our Great Lakes region.

The remnants of Hurricane Sandy – and what weather experts are saying of this one, remnants may be too light a word when the full force of this storm arrives here – keeping in mind that it is already socking our friends and neighbours along the Atlantic coasts of New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland, and even up to Connecticut and Massachusetts, one helluva lot harder, and let’s all please support our friends and neighbours as they suffer through this horrible storm.

In the meantime, Sandy, with all of its damaging rains and winds, is whirling its way up here, into  Niagara, Ontario and Erie and Niagara Falls Counties, New  York and there are warnings and news advisories from our local and regional governments we all ought to obverse. Niagara At Large is posting some of that news and links to news from just the same.

From Niagara, Ontario’s Regional government, released this October 29 – Last

High winds and significant rainfall are expected in the Niagara area for the next few days.

As the storm progresses, we will provide updates regarding any services that are affected by the storm.

For continued updated information on the storm from the Niagara Region, click on http://www.niagararegion.ca/ .

For information on what you should do to deal with Hurricane Sandy in the Buffalo, New York area, click on http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/ .

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority in Niagara, Ontario has released the following warning about possible hazardous flooding conditions around watercourses in our Niagara, Ontario area. 

This notice is intended to advise the public and local municipalities of hazardous watercourse and shoreline conditions that are expected to develop shortly within the Niagara Peninsula.

Wind warnings are in effect for all of Niagara, especially along the shores of Lake Ontario. Severe winds of up to 60 km/h, with gusts up to 100 km/h, were forecast to begin in the evening. Areas exposed to strong north winds like Grimsby, Jordan, St. Catharines, Port Dalhousie, and Niagara-on-the-Lake could see coastal erosion and damage. By Tuesday morning, waves of between five to seven metres may be possible. Because of these conditions, residents are urged to stay away from the shorelines.

As well, the Niagara Peninsula is expected to receive approximately 30 to 50 mm of rain by Wednesday. Even with the wet weather experienced over the weekend, the watercourses in Niagara are currently well below critical conditions. However, small creeks and streams may respond very quickly to the anticipated rain.  Additionally, the water levels in larger watercourses may rise significantly in the coming days. 

Given the intensity of rainfall and fast-flowing water in ditches, local municipalities are advised to check for debris clogging culverts, catch basins, and other storm infrastructure. 

Parents are urged to keep children well away from streams, ditches, and creeks at this time, as banks may be slippery and unstable.  Drivers are reminded there is an increased risk of water over roads and should be particularly careful at night. 

This notice will be updated as required.  Information on the Flood Status in Niagara can be found on the NPCA’s website at www.npca.ca on the homepage and under the “Stream Flow Conditions” tab 

By the way, one of the news hosts of the cable channel MSNBC in the United States quoted a twitter message it received about this storm that read something like this – ‘From Hurricane Sandy – This is what you get for not mentioning climate change during any of your presidential debates.’

(Niagara At Large invites you to share your thoughts below, and send any news or images you have on the storm to NAL at drapers@vaxxine.com .)