A flood watch is now in effect for the geographical jurisdiction of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority, which includes the municipalities of Selwyn, Douro-Dummer, Asphodel-Norwood, Otonabee-South Monaghan, Cavan Monaghan, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and the City of Peterborough.

A flood watch message is issued when the potential for flooding exists.

While flooding is not expected along the Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, or Rice Lake at this time, flooding is possible in specific watercourses or municipalities. Municipalities, emergency services, and individual landowners in low lying flood-prone areas should make preparations.

Environment Canada reports that rain is expected to spread across southern Ontario from west to east tonight (February 28) and taper off on Wednesday. General rainfall amounts of 15 to 25 millimetres are likely, though isolated spots may see higher amounts, especially in areas that receive thunderstorms. Temperatures will remain above freezing throughout the day today, overnight and into tomorrow before cooling off late Wednesday. Temperatures above freezing combined with rainfall will expedite melting of the remaining snowpack.

Many of the rivers and creeks in the region are flowing moderately high as a result of snowmelt and rainfall over the past week. There have been reports of minor nuisance flooding in low lying areas adjacent to wetlands and other areas with poor drainage.

The forecast rainfall and snowmelt, combined with saturated and/or frozen ground conditions will result in appreciable runoff into rivers and creeks. It is expected that minor flooding in low-lying and flood-prone areas will occur as a result of the forecast weather.

Widespread flooding is not anticipated at the present time. Should thunderstorms materialize with intense rainfall, smaller creeks may respond quickly, reaching bankfull conditions or exceeding their banks, resulting in flooding of low lying areas.

However, fooding along the Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, Rice Lake, and Trent River (Rice Lake to Hastings) are not expected to flood as a result of these conditions.

The public is advised to avoid all activities near rivers and creeks as high flows and slippery banks are extremely hazardous. Affected municipalities, and those residents living in low-lying flood prone areas, are advised to take precautions to protect their property.

Staff of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide an update should the forecast conditions deteriorate.

Local municipalities are the first to respond to, and assist with, flood emergencies. To report a flood in your area, call the Flood Watch Hotline at 705-745-5791, ext. 228. If you experience a flood emergency, call 911 immediately.

The flood watch will remain in effect until Friday, March 3rd, 2017, or until further notice.

The teen charged with second-degree murder following a fire on Friday afternoon (February 24) at a youth group home in Oakwood near Lindsay has now been charged with an additional count of second-degree murder.

Police laid the additional charge after an employee at the group home died at hospital as a result of injuries sustained during the fire. The teen has also been charged with arson causing bodily harm.

At around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 24th, the City of Kawartha Lakes OPP responded to a disturbance at the group home, located on 725 Quaker Road, a rural area northwest of the Village of Oakwood, which is 12 kilometres west of Lindsay.

Upon arriving, police found the building on fire and requested the assistance of the Kawartha Lakes Fire and Rescue Service and the City of Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Service.

One person died in the fire, and two people were injured as a result of the fire and transported to hospital. One of the people injured in the fire, who police have only identified as an employee of the group home, has since died at hospital.

The City of Kawartha Lakes OPP, led by Detective Inspector Dave Robinson of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, continue to investigate the circumstance of the fire with assistance from the Office of the Fire Marshall and Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Services.

On Saturday, February 25th, the Office of the Chief Coroner in Toronto conduced a post-mortem examination and identified the first victim who was killed. The OPP is not be releasing the victim’s name, age, or gender to protect the integrity of the investigation. Police reports imply the first victim may be another resident of the group home, although this is not confirmed.

City of Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham released a statement about the fire: “I am deeply saddened by the tragic fire that has taken place. Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those involved. I’m proud, as always, of the Kawartha Lakes Fire and Paramedic Services and the OPP for their valiant efforts tonight.”

The youth foster home is operated by Connor Homes, a private group and foster care system of homes licensed under the Child and Family Services Act by the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services. Based out of Campbellford, Connor Homes operates homes across Ontario.

The teenaged resident of the group home who has been charged cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Steven Del Duca made the most of his first visit to Peterborough as Ontario’s transportation minister, announcing Friday (February 24) that Peterborough Utilities Group has installed nine electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at seven city and county locations.

The recipient of $291,480 from the Electric Vehicle Chargers Ontario (EVCO) program, the local utility group has installed Level 2 and/or Level 3 chargers at the following locations:

• McDonald’s, Lansdowne Street West at The Parkway (Level 3)
• Lansdowne Place (Levels 2 and 3)
• King Street Parking Garage in downtown Peterborough (Level 2)
• Riverview Park and Zoo (Level 2)
• Tim Horton’s, 1527 Water Street (Level 2)
• Downtown Lakefield (Level 2)
• Asphodel Norwood Township office (Levels 2 and 3)

Level 2 charging stations use a 240-volt system and can fully charge a vehicle from zero percent in four to eight hours. Level 3 charging stations, meanwhile, use a 480-volt system and can charge a vehicle to 80 percent in just 30 minutes.

The Peterborough EV charging stations are part of a move to install close to 500 across the province to service an estimated 9,000-plus electric vehicles currently on the road.

For the first year of operation, charging is free. After that time, that will be re-evaluated based on demand.

“Climate change is one of the single most challenging circumstances that we face…transportation emissions pose one of Ontario’s greatest challenges with respect to achieving the greenhouse gas emission targets that we have,” said Minister Del Duca.

“Emissions from the transportation sector, at 35 percent of all emissions in the province, account for more than any other industry. More than iron, steel, cement and chemical emissions combined.”

Minister Del Duca explained the Province’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, 37 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.

“We can get there unless we break the back of that 35 percent in the transportation sector,” he added, speaking specifically to the encouragement of wider electric vehicle acceptance and use.

The Province is investing $20 million from its Green Investment Fund to build close to 500 EV charging stations at more than 250 locations province wide. To that end, the Province is working with 24 private and public sector entities “to create an unprecedented network of electric vehicle charging stations in cities, along highways and at workplaces and other public spaces.”

A byproduct of charging stations being operational, added Minister Del Duca, is a reduction in “range anxiety” experienced by electric vehicle operators.

“With the EVCO network of public EV charging stations, electric vehicle drivers will be able to travel from Windsor to Ottawa, or from Toronto to North Bay, not mention within and around our major rural and urban centres,” he explained.

“Electric vehicle owners will be able to plan longer trips and have the confidence that they can recharge nearby.”

EV charging stations, he added, also send a strong signal to those considering switching to an electric vehicle that the infrastructure is in place to look after their charging needs.

Also speaking were Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal, Mayor Darryl Bennett, County Warden Joe Taylor and Peterborough Utilities Group president/CEO John Stephenson, who praised his people for their involvement in, and contribution to, the EV charging station project.

“EV adoption has to be led by infrastructure,” said Stephenson. “This is the first step through our utility, through government participation, to making that happen.”

Those who think the planned new home of the Canadian Canoe Museum is still in the pipe dream stage received the definitive wake-up call Friday (February 24).

Before a large gathering of museum board members, staff and volunteers, Parks Canada employees and community leaders, Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef announced the project is receiving $1,410,672 from Ottawa.

Culled from the federal government’s Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the money will cover the cost of architectural and engineering plans for the construction of the museum’s new home at the base of the Peterborough Lift Lock on the west shore of the Trent-Severn Waterway.

“The investment is a recognition of the heritage that is preserved in this space and the exceptional collection of canoes, kayaks and paddled watercraft. The canoe’s ability to tell Canada’s story is recognized with this investment,” said MP Monsef, who also serves as Minister of Status of Women.

“Cultural spaces like this matter because they bring us together. They allow Canadians to have greater access to our arts and culture, whether its performing arts, the visual arts, media arts, museum collections or heritage displays. I know the new facility will inspire museum lovers and paddlers alike.”

The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, administered by the Ministry of Canadian Heritage, was established in 2001 to aid not-for-profit arts and heritage organizations with the improvement, renovation and construction of facilities as well as the acquisition of specialized equipment and the development of studies related to infrastructure projects. As of March 2016, $410 million had been forwarded to 1,381 projects across Canada. This year, 157 projects in 96 communities will benefit from the fund.

In his remarks, museum board chair Bill Morris termed the funding announcement “a turning point” in the ongoing journey leading to the new museum, singling out MP Monsef for being “a very strong advocate” of the museum’s redevelopment project since day one.

“This funding comes at a critical time as it allows us to continue with our pre-construction phase,” said Morris, noting the federal funding is a matching amount, prompting his thanking private donors for their contributions to date.

“The museum’s collection is a cultural asset that reflects our national heritage. We’re building a new home that aspires to be innovative; as innovative as the canoe itself. The new museum will care for the collection in the way it deserves to be cared for, and preserve it, protect it, and showcase it for generations to come.”

Morris shared that the complete collection will be accessible to visitors to the museum’s new home, noting what’s on display at any given time at the current 910 Monaghan Road location represents just 20 percent of its 600-plus paddled watercraft.

“We will be basically doubling the museum space and showing the full collection. It will be a reunion of sorts.”

Estimated to cost close to $50 million when all is said and done, the new museum, located on Parks Canada property, will be comprised of three main components: a 17,000 square foot exhibition gallery, a restaurant/café and gift shop, and a 250-seat multi-purpose room. In addition, a 20,000 square foot storage space will be accessible to an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 visitors annually — double the museum’s current attendance.

Chosen via a committee headed by former longtime Globe & Mail architectural critic Lisa Rochon, heneghan peng of Dublin, Ireland is the lead design and landscape architect, working in tandem with architect of record Kearns Mancini and landscape designer Phil Collins of Foggy River Farm. Among heneghan peng’s benchmark design projects is The Palestinian Museum in Berzeit, Palestine and the Grand Egyptian Museum situated between the pyramids and Cairo.

Opened July 1, 1997, the Canadian Canoe Museum’s birth can be traced back earlier to when a committed group of paddlers and historians welcomed the Canadian Canoe Museum collection to Peterborough from Camp Kandalore in the early 1990s.

The initial plan was to locate the museum on Little Lake beside Beavermead Park on property owned by the City of Peterborough. However, before that property could be developed, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC), which was closing its Peterborough operation, offered to sell its office and factory space on Monaghan Road for $1. The existing buildings and infrastructure made OMC the best site option at the time.

The decision to explore relocating the museum to an on-water location in Peterborough was made at a board strategic planning retreat in 2007. Subsequent strategic planning sessions led to the articulation and expansion of two-long term objectives for the organization: build a strong and sustainable organization, and work toward re-situating, re-developing and re-inventing the museum as a national canoeing hub and a marquee tourist draw on a new site on the water in or near downtown Peterborough. That call to action was written into a strategic plan titled “Onto The National Stage, first published in 2010.

Following the formal portion of MP Monsef’s announcement, Morris said the public fundraising campaign is “a year or two down the road,” adding it’s hoped ground will be broken on site in 2019.

“A year ago we were at the bottom of the mountain looking up,” said Morris. “We’ve made significant progress and we’re gaining momentum. We’ve got a lot of work to do but we’re feeling very confident.”

“There are a number of (government) ministries that have synergies with what we’re doing here. Certainly heritage is one, but obviously First Peoples is a very important part of the museum. One of the other things is the environmental aspect of the project. There are also the economic spin-offs, so we’re hoping the industry side of things will lead to some possibilities (in terms of funding).”

To learn more about the new museum project, visit www.canoemuseum.ca/museumonthemove.

The Peterborough County OPP detachment on 453 Lansdowne Street East in Peterborough was temporarily closed yesterday (February 22) while police investigated a possible explosive device contained in a briefcase.

At around 11:30 a.m. on February 22nd, members of the Peterborough County OPP spoke with a man who explained he had received a call about winning a lottery in the United States. The man was told he had won 2.5 million dollars and, in order to receive his winnings, he had to pay $5,000 in tax.

The man also received a locked briefcase and was told that it contained a portion of his winnings. A letter accompanying the briefcase indicated he had to first send the tax money and then he would receive a code to open the briefcase.

The letter also said the briefcase contained an explosive device and any efforts to open it without the proper code would cause the briefcase to explode.

The man brought the briefcase to the Peterborough County OPP detachment. Police closed the detachment to the public and contacted members of Central Region Tactics and Rescue Unit. Members of the Explosives Disposal Unit (EDU) were assisted by TRU in rendering the package safe. There were no explosives in the package.

Police remind members of the public that, if they find any military ordnance or a suspected explosive device, they should not touch, move, or transport the item. They should record any numbers that might appear on the device (this will assist with identification of the item) and call the local police for proper disposal.

Both the OPP and the Canadian Armed Forces have trained experts who will attend the location of the explosive device and can decide the safest method for its removal and disposal.