Clean up efforts are set to begin this weekend now that waters are receding.
The town of Bracebridge has organized a Community Clean-Up Weekend this Saturday and Sunday. Mayor Graydon Smith said the focus will be on sandbags. He added there are eight locations around town where people can either volunteer to receive the bags or they can go out and collect them.
“Everyone wants to clean up and get things back to normal,” Smith said. “The first step is getting rid of the sandbags that have gone out and they, in most cases, have to come back.”
Smith added sandbags can be taken to the Rosewarne Landfill and urged people not to keep them if they don’t have to.
“Obviously that temptation is there but we’d prefer the bags came back,” Smith said. “If someone decides to keep them for future use just recognized that what’s in the bag isn’t healthy.”
Smith said the town is also actively fundraising to help affected residents financially. Smith added people should go through their insurance and the Disaster Recovery Assistance program from the province first.
According to the Mayor, it will still be a few weeks until the town can consider giving any of the collected money out.
“Once we get through the recovery we can calculate and quantify what people really need,” Smith said. “We will prioritize by the severity of damages which will be very high in some places.”
The mayor wanted to again thank the community and said anyone who wants to donate money to help support those affected can do so on the municipal website. Tax receipts will be provided for donations.