Our fast-paced and increasingly technical world can throw us for a loop if we are not cautious about the tools we choose to communicate an urgent message.

It is disheartening to read Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty’s concerns on our front page regarding the initial timeframe and method used by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to communicate abnormal water levels in the Rivercove watershed area.

Doughty’s concerns seem to stem from the fact that the first communication from the MNR was received via e-mail.

E-mail is a great invention. It allows us to fire off information in seconds, without having to take the time to wait for a particular person to get to the phone or exchange pleasantries and discuss the weather on our way to getting the message across. However, when the message is urgent, there is no guarantee that the information has reached its target. So, following things up with a phone call, as the MNR did, is imperative. Perhaps the initial contact could have even been a phone call, and once the importance of the situation was established the detailed e-mails might have followed.

This office is bombarded with hundreds of press releases every day from all levels of governments, political parties, for and not-for-profit organizations and advisories of different sorts. Sorting through it all is a feat in itself. So, when it comes to something as urgent as, “Hey there, wake up and smell the coffee. The water levels seem to be rising,” that is the sort of information that ought to be communicated and monitored live. Especially since the MNR is simply the conduit for carrying the message to the body charged with putting an emergency plan into action on the ground.

According to the MNR protocols, as stated on their website, Conservation Authorities and MNR District offices (in areas where Conservation Authorities do not exist) issue the flood messages to local municipalities and the media.

The only flood advisories this news organization received came from the municipality,  also via e-mail, not the ministry.

The timeline described by Doughty is also worrisome. He has stated that the municipality wasn’t advised of  actually dangerous water levels until approximately 6 p.m. on Wed. Jan. 9. He declared a flood emergency at 7:00 p.m., and only a few hours after that the roads in the areas in question were under water.

In all fairness, regardless of whether the message could have been delivered or received faster or more efficiently, it is clear that all parties involved had the best of intentions. But because intentions aren’t enough when it comes to people’s safety and property, we urge the mayor and the ministry to work out the glitches.

T.d.V.