Rising Humber River erodes more land
DEER LAKE — Clyde Compton has spent a lot of time watching the Humber River in Deer Lake this week.
“Every day it’s a changing situation,” the Pine Tree Drive resident said Friday.
Compton lives right on the river, not far from the Nicolsville Bridge, and high water levels are something he’s used to.
A couple of years ago he lost all his docking system to high water.
“And I wouldn’t replace it because it’s just too unpredictable.”
Compton said over the past week or so he’s seen some areas of his property drop about 3 1/2 feet as the water erodes the riverbank.
“The river is chewing its way back through.”
He said it’s just a matter of time before the land drops into the river.
On the end of the property closest to the bridge, the bank is about 10 feet to the ground level, but as it moves further downriver the bank height increases to 24-30 feet.
On the end closest to the bridge, Compton figures he’s lost about a foot of land, and about 20 feet on the other end.
One area that’s dropping is about 20 feet from his garage, and he’s hoping it doesn’t get any closer.
He says the river is changing its course and eating away under the bank.
“My fear now as the water recedes, it’s unstable. There’s no stability out there.”
And the worst thing is there’s nothing he can do.
The town has been over and looked at the situation, and Friday afternoon Mayor Dean Ball said it sounded odd, but the water level on Deer Lake was still up, but the Humber River was down.
“We’re optimistic that the worst is over.”
There is rain in the forecast for the weekend and Ball said the town should be able to handle it.
“Unless this rain becomes harder and more than what they’re forecasting.”
Ball said a lot of water has gone inland, but there has been no damage other than on Pine Tree Drive, where about 110 feet of land is sloping down.
When the water goes down, the town will bring it back up to grade where it should be, but it could be another month before that happens.
One area where the water from Deer Lake has flowed over the land is at the Deer Lake Municipal RV Park and Campground.
Operator John Stirling took over the facility last year. He saw it as “a diamond in the rough,” and always wondered why it hadn’t been expanded. So, when it came up for tender he was interested.
He did some renovations on the park last year and had plans for more. But things have been delayed a bit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the decision was made to remain closed for the 2020 season.
“And this kind of put the nail in the coffin," he said of the water spilling over the park.
He’s been monitoring the situation and from what he can see the impact has been minimal, with no infrastructure affected. He’ll get a better idea once the water recedes.
“It’s going to change the shoreline. Stuff will be eroded, but as part of construction we’ll be fixing that.”
But neither the pandemic nor the water are deterring him.
“As soon as Mother Nature is going to let us, we’ll be back at the park with construction as planned. And then, hopefully, everything co-operates with COVID for next season.”
While it is disappointing not to open, he says this was the best year for the flooding to happen and it’s giving him useful data.
“We’re going to learn from it, use that to make it better.”
Stirling said the swimming area on the Humber, which is a separate entity from the campsite, will open as soon as it’s safe to do so.
Ball also expects the beach area along Nicolsville Road will see a lot of use this summer. He said the town will groom the entire beach so