Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Sunday (August 29) for all of the greater Kawarthas region, including Peterborough, Kawarthas Lakes, Northumberland, Haliburton, and Hastings County.

Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms into Sunday evening.

The strongest of these thunderstorms will be capable of producing strong wind gusts up to 90 km/h, hail size up to 2 cm, and heavy rain of 50 mm within one hour.

Strong wind gusts can toss loose objects, damage weak buildings, break branches off trees and overturn large vehicles. Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. Lightning kills and injures Canadians every year. Remember, when thunder roars, go indoors!

Environment Canada issues severe thunderstorm watches when atmospheric conditions are favourable for the development of thunderstorms that could produce one or more of the following: large hail, damaging winds, and torrential rainfall.

The Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management recommends that you take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches.

This story has been updated to include all areas in the expanded severe thunderstorm watch.

With the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan, the Peterborough chapter of a national organization dedicated to the education and rights of women in Afghanistan is raising awareness of the developing refugee crisis — as well as the dire threats Afghan residents, including women, face under Taliban rule.

Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan), a non-profit and non-religious organization founded in 1996 with more than 10 chapters across Canada which has raised funds for the education of women and girls in Afghanistan since 1996, is also seeking donations to support Afghan refugees and their families and for humanitarian aid for those remaining in Afghanistan.

Earlier in August, the federal government announced plans to bring in 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban to Canada.

“Soon there will be Afghan refugees and their families coming to Peterborough who will need support, similar to the outstanding welcome given to Syrian refugees over the past five years,” the Peterborough chapter of CW4WAfghan states in a media release.

CW4WAfghan is encouraging Peterborough residents to help as more information becomes available through the Peterborough chapter and through New Canadians Centre Peterborough.

“Many of these refugees speak English and are educated, talented, and hard-working,” the media release states.

To help raise awareness of the plight of Afghan refugees as well as funds, members of CW4WAfghan’s Peterborough chapter along with Red Pashmina Inc. will be in downtown Peterborough on Saturday, September 4th, visiting farmers’ markets and other areas. They will be wearing red pashminas and handing out bookmarks with information about the situation and a welcome to Afghan refugees.

Red Pashmina is a grassroots campaign founded in 2009 by friends Jess Melnik and Maryam Monsef (who grew up in Afghanistan as a child and is now Peterborough-Kawartha MP and federal Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development), selling pashmina scarves with proceeds going to CW4WAfghan. Originally conceived as a one-time event, the now-annual campaign has since raised more than $150,000 to help support women in Afghanistan.

To support the work of CW4WAfghan through Red Pashmina, you can purchase red pashminas by calling 705-748-6251 or emailing redpashminacampaign@gmail.com.

As well as Afghan refugees, CW4WAfghan states it is “deeply concerned” for Afghans living inside the country who are unable to leave and now face the risk of violence and femicide.

“It is important to understand that the segment of the population at risk is not small,” the media release reads. “It includes not only prominent women such as journalists, civil society activists and politicians, but ordinary people as well: any parent who sent their daughter to university, anyone who ever criticized the Taliban, religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ communities, and people who simply wish to live a lifestyle that doesn’t conform to the Taliban’s rigid norms.”

To donate to CW4WAfghan for humanitarian aid, you can send funds to the Peterborough chapter by e-transfer to peterborough@cw4wafghan.ca or by writing a cheque to CW4WAfghan Peterborough and mailing it to Daphne Ingram, 129 Long Lake Road, Apsley ON K0L 1A0.

VIDEO: Advocating for Afghan Women’s Rights (before the Taliban’s return)

“There will need to be accountability for this tragic, preventable outcome that has stripped an entire population of their rights and freedoms overnight, and a reckoning with the role of the United States in brokering a Taliban-led government in Kabul, as well as other stakeholders in the international community,” the media release reads.

Also seeking to raise awareness of the plight of Afghans, the Peterborough Peace Council’s regular monthly vigil on Monday (August 30) will focus partly on the women of Afghanistan. The vigil will take place outdoors at noon at Emmanuel United Church at 534 George Street North.

For more information about Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, visit cw4wafghan.ca.

Anyone who has ever spent time on a lake in the Kawarthas has heard the plaintive wail or tremulous call of the common loon, with photographers relishing the opportunity to capture the iconic bird’s profile or, if they’re lucky, a mom with her chicks.

But new Canadian research reveals something is wrong with the loon, raising a red flag about the health of the species as well as the health of Canada’s lakes.

On Monday (August 23), Birds Canada — a non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve wild birds — released the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey, a study based on 40 years’ worth of data submitted by volunteer citizen scientists who have been watching loons on lakes across Canada and submitting their observations since 1981

While the data collected through the survey has contributed to loon and lake conservation and increased public awareness of the importance of loons and healthy lakes, researchers with Birds Canada have also used it to identify an alarming trend: in the past three decades, the loon has experienced mysterious declines in the number of chicks surviving to adulthood across southern Canada.

Previously, the decline in loon chicks raised to independence has been formally documented in only one other study, which was focused on a single county in northern Wisconsin. Thanks to the contributions of thousands of citizen scientists, the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey provides the first evidence the problem is much more widespread.

“Without the dedication of the volunteers providing reliable and carefully collected data, the world would have no idea the common loon is in trouble in such a wide area,” says Dr. Doug Tozer, director of waterbirds and wetlands for Birds Canada, in a media release.

While scientists aren’t sure why there has been a decline in common loon productivity, they have a working hypothesis.

Using the massive amounts of data from the survey, they explored the impact of more than a dozen different factors, including acid rain, fish mercury contamination, shoreline development, boating activity, predation from bald eagles, competition from double-crested cormorants, and weather variables.

After ruling out many possible causes, researchers believe the complex interplay between global warming, damage from acid rain, and mercury pollution may be at least partly to blame for the decline in common loon productivity. Further research is now underway to test this hypothesis.

While this research continues, Birds Canada is also encouraging more citizen scientists to volunteer to help find the cause for the decline and determine conservation actions that will halt the decline.

Birds Canada is also encouraging everyone to take precautionary actions now to protect the common loon. These include minimizing boat wakes (which can damage loon nests on shorelines), using non-lead fishing tackle, disposing of fishing lines properly, reducing your carbon footprint, and conserving the native wetland plants that provide shelter for loon chicks and the fish habitat that feeds loons.

“Without the haunting cry of a loon from a distant lake, the northern woods would just feel wrong,” Dr. Tozer says.

To find out more about the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey, how to become a citizen scientist for Birds Canada, and for tips to help loons, visit www.birdscanada.org/loons.

VIDEO: The Canadian Lakes Loon Survey

Despite the attainment of another vaccination milestone in the Peterborough region, the number of active COVID-19 cases has seen a sharp increase, with most new cases in the last month among unvaccinated people under 30.

During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Thursday (August 26), medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra noted that while just four new cases have been detected since Monday, the number of active cases in the region has risen to 15 — a hangover from the 16 new cases reported last week.

“The numbers are tracking higher than two weeks ago,” noted Dr. Salvaterra, adding the Delta variant continues to be the “dominant” strain seen locally.

“Provincially and nationally, it appears we’re on the verge of a fourth wave,” she said. “It remains to be seen how intense it may be for us here in Peterborough.”

Since July 28, most of the new cases have been seen in those 29 and under, but there have also been a higher number of new cases in the 50 to 59 age group, according to Dr. Salvaterra, who says that “correlates with the slightly lower vaccination rate” in that age group.

The overall vaccination picture is rosier, said Dr. Salvaterra, with original targets now surpassed with 81.1 per cent of residents aged 12 and up having received at least one dose of vaccine and 74.6 of residents aged 12 and up fully vaccinated with two doses. Over the past two weeks alone, 1,700 area residents have received their first dose and close to 4,000 their second dose.

However, with the return to school looming, Dr. Salvaterra pointed to the vaccination numbers for the 12 to 17 age group as cause for some concern, with the number fully vaccinated at just 61.1 per cent. She noted vaccination clinics are being planned for the fall when schools are open.

As has been the practice provincially in recent weeks, Peterborough Public Health is now reporting the vaccination status of reported new COVID cases. From July 27 to August 23, 85.2 per cent of those infected were not vaccinated while another 3.7 per cent were just partially vaccinated with one dose.

“This clearly shows how effective vaccines are in preventing cases,” said Dr. Salvaterra, noting recent data released by the Ontario Science Table shows that unvaccinated people are eight times more likely to contract COVID-19, 29 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 48 times more likely to be an ICU patient.

As for two trending topics of COVID discussion — booster shots and vaccine passports — Dr. Salvaterra said the local public health team is watching provincial developments closely and is ready to act as required.

“Ontario has been able to move forward with a third dose policy but for a very few select groups. As of now, those groups include people who have received a transplant, are having active blood cancer treatment, or are on an immune modulator medication.”

“But in addition, those living in long-term care homes and in high-risk retirement homes can go ahead with a third dose at least five months after their second dose. We are actively engaged with our long-term care facilities in order to support that.”

As for the possible issuance of a vaccine passport, Dr. Salvaterra clarified that she and her fellow medical officers of health across the province “would much prefer that any vaccine passport be done federally and provincially” as opposed to locally.

“That’s so we don’t have a patchwork of approaches from location to location,” explained Dr. Salvaterra, noting much work remains to be done on the logistics of a vaccine passport rollout before that can become a reality.

Meanwhile, with the number of COVID cases having dropped dramatically from the number seen this past spring, the number and size of protests by anti-vaccine demonstrators has decreased proportionally.

However, one small protest saw three people work their way to near the Peterborough Public Health office on King Street last Friday (August 20). Police were called and the group was dispersed with no charges laid.