Torrential rain in community west of Sault Ste. Marie strands cottagers and residents

Cleanup is underway more than 24 hours since Mother Nature opened up the skies and flooded much of Prince Township.

“It was just a ridiculous amount of water that came all at once and it's left some pretty significant sinkholes that are going to take a lot of material and time to fill,” Prince Township CAO Jillian Hayes said Tuesday.

Hayes said the main priority for municipal staff at this point is restoring access to Prince Lake Road.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, a number of full-time residents and cottagers were still stuck, although the town has enlisted the help of workers from neighbouring Sault Ste. Marie.

“I am extremely thankful for the assistance the City of Sault Ste. Marie has offered in advancing necessary repairs of the severe washouts to Prince Road,” Mayor Enzo Palumbo said.

Hayes does have a message for locals that could speed up the work on some of those areas that were harder hit.

“Do your best to stay out of the way so we ask people not to go up to Marshall Drive,” she said.

“Please don't drive up to Prince Lake. You won't be able to get through. And our crews need that space to work.”

For a large portion of Monday afternoon, Prince Township had closed down Second Line – the main artery in, and out of the town -- due to flooding across the highway.

Giulio D’Ambrosio, who lives on Second Line, had perhaps too close of a look at the flooding.

“From the Prince town office up to Airport road was all one level, almost. Just water,” D’Ambrosio said.

'This is still worse'

He said that it has been eight to 10 years since a flood similar in size “but this is still worse.”

“The beginning was fine. The water was going out and all of a sudden you could hear the gushing coming from the mountain where we have a water coming down like a fall.”

A number of locals -- including town officials -- that CTV News spoke with, assume the heavy rain washed out beaver dams, further heightening the problem.

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Palumbo said he would look into the matter, adding that the town could increase dam pulling if it could help prevent or mitigate future floods.

The town had to close a number of services because of the flooding.

The municipal office, EarlyON Program, library and museum all shut their doors Tuesday.

Hayes notes that many of those services should be operational again in “a day or two.”

She urged locals to check the Prince Township Social media page for further updates.