Final street reopens in Wheatley following explosion

All streets have reopened more than a year after an explosion rocked Wheatley’s downtown core.

“It's strange to go down there, but it's nice to be able to go straight through,” said resident Linda Niehus.

Not since the explosion on Aug. 26 of last year that injured 20 and displaced 68 families, have residents been able to drive on Erie Street between Talbot and Foster.

Morris Raffoul lost his building on the east side of the road and paid his first visit to the area that was once home to his pizza business.

“I opened it when I was 25,” said Raffould. “It's been 36 years that I had this place. Yeah, my wife is a little more emotional than I am but yeah, it's tough.”

Erie Street is open but access to the businesses that line both sides of the street remain restricted. On one side of the street, the evacuation zone, which is still active, and on the other side access to the buildings is still prohibited.

Downtown Wheatley, Ont. on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)

They’ve been closed for almost 16 months and no one knows if the buildings are structurally sound.

Richard Whittle, president of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 324, said their building is sound and is hopeful to reopen sometime in 2023.

“I was told last Friday that it's gonna be at least six months before we get hydro and gas and water and sewer back in. It's not even hooked up yet,” he explained. “We'll have to wait for that and see what goes on then.”

Data is currently being gathered from scrubbers that were installed three weeks ago, and officials on-site said they are working perfectly fine.

Residents are happy progress is being made, but the future of the downtown core is undetermined.

“Until they give us some type of guarantee, who's gonna take a chance?” said Raffoul.

Whittle however believes good times are ahead.

“I’m pretty sure the uptown is gonna be booming once again,” he said. “Wheatley is a small community and everybody sticks together. I think we’ll do it.”