Water levels remain high in Port Bruce on Friday morning, Feb. 18, after Catfish Creek flooded the community the previous afternoon. Malahide Administrator Adam Betteridge said entry points to the village remain closed to non-essential visitors. Anyone requiring temporary shelter could find it Sommerfeld Church in Mount Salem. A handful of Port Bruce residents spent…
Elgin County, in a statement on Thursday night, Feb. 17, reported that a fire involving construction equipment at Terrace Lodge long-term care home in Malahide, just east of Aylmer, had been extinguished with no injuries to residents or staff. Residents of the lower north wing were relocated within Terrace Lodge as a precaution when the…
A home on tall stilts at North Erie Marina in Port Bruce was only a foot or two from the water as Catfish Creek flooded on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 17. Longtime residents observed the water was as high as the benchmark flooding in 1984. Malahide firefighters were using an inflatable boat to evacuate some residents…
Equipment from Laemers Excavating, including a long-arm backhoe, a loader and two dump trucks, were busy late Thursday morning, Feb. 17, breaking up ice at the mouth of Port Bruce harbour. Large chunks of ice also came out, and were hauled to a municipal parking lot nearby for storage. Unseasonably warm temperatures Wednesday and Thursday…
Both Catfish Creek Conservation Authority and Kettle Creek Conservation Authority on Wednesday, Feb. 16, issued flood “watches” for their watersheds, with unseasonably warm temperatures and rain expected to fall soon. They had released flood advisories on Tuesday. The latest word from Water Management Technician Peter Dragunas at CCCA stated: “This Flood Watch is to notify…
An Oxford man in his 50s has become the 145th fatality attributed to COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the pandemic began in the Southwestern Public Health area almost two years ago. Previously, he would have been counted as the 148th such death, but the health unit has changed how it counts deaths…
Kettle Creek Conservation Authority and Catfish Creek Conservation Authority on Tuesday, Feb. 15, citing a pending thaw and rain, issued advisories reminding residents to take extra caution near creeks and streams due to the potential for flooding conditions as temperatures rise over the next couple of days. Parents and guardians are urged to keep children…
Aylmer Police Deputy Chief Nick Novacich is urging anyone owning a replica that looks like a real firearm to take great care with displaying it or how it is stored. During a traffic stop at 9:45 p.m. on Monday night, Feb. 14, officers found what appeared to be a .357 magnum revolver inside a 17-year-old…
Southwestern Public Health has announced that effective Friday, Feb. 18, teens ages 12 through 17 who had already received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine would become eligible for a third, booster dose at mass immunization clinics in St. Thomas and Woodstock. Recipients must be at least 12 on the day they receive the booster, and…
Southwestern Public Health reported 104 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the weekend in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Monday, Feb. 14, or an average just under 35 a day. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit dropped to 394 Monday from 483 Friday. Currently, 24 area residents are hospitalized…
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday, Feb. 14, announced further relaxation of COVID-19 public health restrictions would come on Thursday, Feb. 17, and that by the end of the month health passports will no longer be required to be admitted to certain settings such as indoor restaurant dining. The latter, he noted, was subject to…
Southwestern Public Health on Friday, Feb. 11, announced three deaths related to COVID-19, including a St. Thomas man in his 30s and two related to an outbreak at Elgin County’s Elgin Manor long-term care home in Southwold, a man in his 90s and a woman in her 80s. Their deaths bring to 147 the total…