Rainy Lake water levels have exceeded those from last year—and are still rising.
“The lake level is still rising but the rate of rise is slower,” Rick Walden, engineering advisor for the International Rainy Lake Board of Control, noted Monday morning.
“It is six cm higher than the peak from last year and is still rising,” he added.
As of Monday morning, the water level on Rainy Lake was 338.30 m. All 15 gates on the Rainy Lake dam are open.
Fortunately, many of the tributaries that flow into Rainy Lake already have peaked after last week’s torrential rainfall that caused extensive flooding throughout the district and so the rate of inflow has declined.
“Basically it is wait-and-see at this point,” Walden remarked.
Last week, there was concern that opening all the gates would cause even further damage to the town of Rainy River, flooding the seniors’ home and hospital, so they held off until the community could build a dike.
Walden said much of that concern has now passed. “At this point, levels on the river have peaked,” he noted.
While property owners keep an eye on lake levels, road crews are getting area highways back to normal.
Highway 502 to Dryden re-opened yesterday afternoon after being closed for almost a week.
Highway 71 to Kenora remains open although there’s still a detour at Nestor Falls.
But Highway 11 east of Fort Frances to Atikokan is still closed at Price Creek until a temporary bridge is put in place later this week, the Ministry of Transportation reported.
Flanders Road is open, along with Highways 611, 622, 613, and 621 (although the latter two are restricted to one-lane traffic at press time).
MTO is still advising motorists to drive with caution since shoulders have been washed out, and work crews and equipment remain scattered on most highways.
For more information, call the MTO at 1-800-465-5032.