River levels still high, but stable

Ken Johnston
Editor

Local officials and the Lake of the Woods Water Control Board (LWCB) were breathing a little bit easier, but just a little bit Monday when the issue of rising water levels was raised.

Water levels did rise to the top of the Government Dock and well into Hannam Park last week when rain, snow and high winds wreaked havoc on the already high water system. When the winds died down on Lake of the Woods, there was noticeable decline on the dock. Then it rose again as the run off from the 4 plus inches of rain in three days flowed into the watershed.

Rick Walden said that in addition to the ending of that heavy rain event last Sunday to Tuesday, there are a few other factors that have helped both the town of and the Rainy River out. With water levels so high at International Falls the hydro generating station there had to shut down to prevent water from getting into it. That saw five gates closed on the dam there. Then the Big and Little Fork Rivers crested late in the week, hence inflow levels were cut back on the Rainy River.

However water levels on Namaken Lake and Rainy Lake continue to rise over the weekend as inflows from rain earlier in the week remained somewhat steady. Walden said that those inflow levels are expected to continue rising for at least half a week as long as there is no more influx of rain.

However, since the dam at Fort Frances/Int'l Falls is at maximum output (less the generating station gates) and the dam was opened to maximum outflow in Kenora Monday, the effects of the rising lakes should be nominal on the town site of Rainy River. "Once the dams are fully open we can"t really do anything about more water in the system," said Walden. He said the area is at the mercy of Mother Nature. He estimates that it would take about three weeks of drying and draining for levels to drop to normal.

In the meantime the LWCB is working very hard monitoring the system. The last two gates being opened at Kenora Monday means that more that 1300 m3/sec will flow through that dam, raising waters on the Winnipeg River System to dangerous levels. But there is little choice as Lake of the Woods is extremely high as well.

Another problem has complicated matters even more for LWCB. The storm that dumped on this area last week continued to track north and dumped heavily on the Sioux Lookout area. That fed a great deal of water to Lac Seul which is water that ultimately will end up in the Winnipeg River system.

For now Walden is crossing his fingers that the area does not get any more rain. "We are very vulnerable if any substantial rain falls."

Locally the town of Rainy River had volunteers and the fire department fill sand bags last Tuesday. While none were deployed they are stock piled in the event things get bad again. Sandbag filling ended Wednesday, but people are encouraged to tune to local radio stations if wet weather returns, in case volunteers are needed again.