Turning a corner

The city seems to be turning a corner as flood recovery efforts continue.

Capacity at the Atlantic Avenue plant continues to increase with two more 800 horsepower motors ready for testing Monday.

“If all goes well today and they’re performing according to our expectations we will revisit the water reductions that are currently in place,” infrastructure manager Darrell Matson said.

It will also allow workers at the facility to start focusing on other parts of the sewage process such as primary and secondary treatment.

Garbage pick-up also continues Monday. Matson encourages anyone who still has debris from their basements to call 98-FLOOD.

“We’re getting on top of the backlog,” he said.

Mayor Keith Hobbs said progress on all fronts continues.

“It’s a good sign it looks like we’re getting Thunder Bay back to normal,” he said. “We’re getting less and less people coming forward with issues.”

The city has made contact with all 510 homeowners who need clean-up assistance through the safe homes program.

More than 150 homes have already been cleaned up through the program. Fire chief John Hay said it is still a challenge to get a hold of people who either need help or have been helped to let them know their homes are safe but most people should be helped soon.

“I think we’re going to get to a point within a week that all the properties that have been identified have been attended to,” Hay said.

As for unlivable homes, Hay said he won’t know the numbers until later in the week but a vast majority are livable once the clean-up is done.

“We don’t’ have a huge number of properties I believe that are potentially not livable right away,” he said.

The Red Cross has 41 people staying at Lakehead University right now. The organization has closed one registration centre at the Moose Halls while St. Peter’s Catholic Church and Confederation College remain open.

The Salvation Army says they are seeing a decline in the amount of people needing food and water from mobile food trucks. 

City council will vote to approve the eight-person disaster relief committee Monday night. It will be responsible for fundraising and administering the disaster relief fund, which could be as much as $16 million. The city will have claim forms for the fund available at two public meetings on June 23.

The first will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Slovak Legion. Another will be held at the Moose Hall from 4 to 5:30 p.m.