City officials say they’re on track to reopen Toronto Island to the public on Monday following several weeks of the summer hotspot being off-limits to visitors.
Wynna Brown, spokesperson for the City of Toronto, said that while crews are working “extremely hard and diligently” to meet the July 31 reopening date, the experience on the island may not be the same.
“There will be some limitations,” she told CP24 via phone Wednesday morning.
“There are still some soggy areas over there. There are still some areas that are under water and there are some environmentally sensitive areas we have to protect.”
Much of the island is still grappling with the effects of heavy and seemingly unrelenting springtime rainfall, including widespread pooling, record-breaking lake levels and damaged infrastructure.
The conditions have forced the city close Gibraltar Point, Hanlan’s Beach, Olympic Island and sections of Centre Island until further notice.
“This is an unprecedented year of flooding. We haven’t seen the likes of this since the 1970s, so it’s been extremely challenging and a very complex situation on the island – which is essentially a sandbar,” Brown said.
Though lake levels seem to be gradually receding, the city says it will take several more weeks before water levels can “markedly subside.”
“The levels of water in the lake have been unprecedentedly high this year as we all know and they are receding but they’re doing so slowly. It’s still quite wet,” Brown said.
“We’ve had a lot of rain this year that has impacted those conditions. We had some rain week that also contributed further to some of the flooding and soggy conditions over there.”
A report released late June by the city’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation department revealed that the prolonged effects of flooding on the islands will cost the city about $4.88 million by the end of the July.
Most of that number is derived from costs typically accumulated by ferry tickets and event permits.
The report found that in May – when the islands felt the brunt of the rainfall – only 14,000 people rode the ferry, compared to 140,000 people in May of 2016.
In terms of visitors, the city says there more than 1.46 million peopled trekked to Toronto Island Park in 2016.
West Nile found in Island traps
To make matters worse, Toronto Public Health confirmed Tuesday night that mosquitoes captured in traps set up on Toronto Island have tested positive for the West Nile Virus.
“Mosquitoes collected from our traps on the Toronto Islands tested positive for West Nile virus this week,” Associate Medical Officer of Health Christine Navarro wrote in an email to Island residents, provided to CTV News Toronto.
“We are continuing to work with Parks, Forestry and Recreation in identifying and remediating mosquito breeding sites on the Islands on a regular basis. It is not only a local problem, as West Nile virus and vector mosquitoes are spread across Toronto and Ontario, but we did want to share this finding with you.”
While the risk of contracting the virus is low, residents and visitors are encouraged to take extra caution when in the area.
Public health officials say people can prevent infection by wearing insect repellant, wearing light-coloured, long-sleeved clothing while outdoors and taking extra causing during dusk and dawn.
Back in June, health officials in Peel Region confirmed that a mosquito trap in Mississauga had tested positive for the virus. Toronto Public Health confirmed a positive test result in the city earlier in July.
Thus far in 2017, there have been no confirmed human cases of the virus reported in Ontario.
