A detailed study of the Lake Erie Shoreline in Chatham-Kent has determined residents are starting to talk about retreating from the lake.
Extreme high lake levels are causing repeated flooding and road closures in the Erieau region and in a few other places.
Residents of the area recently had a chance to speak to what they're experiencing and give suggestions for solutions.
Peter Zuzek is the consultant leading the study and says moving away from the shoreline is something people are beginning to talk about.
"I would say if you went back 30 or 40 years ago, people didn't talk about retreating or moving back from the hazards. But it's becoming a more prominent option," he says, adding, it's a difficult idea for many people to retreat from the lake's shoreline.
"The conversation is growing. It's for some people, for sure, it would be alarming to think these properties that have been in the family for multiple generations that you're going to pick up and move back. And we fully understand that those are very difficult concepts for people to grasp."
Erieau resident James Shrider admits the idea of moving his house back from the lake is something he would look at.
"Possibly, yeah, but it's expensive too. But I mean if you really want to keep your place then we have to preserve it. That may be something that people would have to do."
Zuzek and his team will spend the summer reviewing the input from residents and developing an interim report for September.
Chatham-Kent Director of Planning Services, Bruce McAlister says there has not been a commitment of funding from any level of government.
He says the report from this study is expected to lay out the roadmap of what that could look like.