Water-logged areas plagued by insects
This week’s flooding across the city has subsided but in its wake are reports of unusual swarms of flying bugs and near-record high water levels.
Social media posts have reported masses of bugs in areas affected by the rains, something Essex Region Conservation Authority spokesman Tim Byrne said is not unusual.
“Flooding will bring bugs out,” said Byrne, ERCA’s director of watershed management.
“You’re flooding wooded areas, the understory of woodlots, grassed areas so anything that’s there that can alight, the water’s going to chase it out and away or it’s going to drown,” he said. “Every bug that happens to be in lawn or vegetation, the flood water is going to displace.”
Byrne said those swarms of flying bugs would be temporarily visible on porches, cars, windowsills and in the air.
“There’s not enough time for it to generate more bugs,” he said of the flood water. “The water wasn’t there long enough for (them) to breed. But the water going in certain areas is going to disturb whatever exists in those areas.”
The epic rain event Tuesday also contributed to already high water levels in local rivers and lakes.
“Our lower reaches of all our major waterways and our Great Lakes — Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Lake Huron, Lake Erie — are at this point in time within six inches (150 millimetres) of the all-time record high,” Byrne said. That record was set in 1986. He said a real-time rainfall gauge at the Grand Marais drain registered 165.8 mm of precipitation in less than three hours on Tuesday.
“That is monsoon or hurricane level precipitation,” he said.
“(High lake levels have) an impact and effect on how quickly water, when you have a heavy rainfall, how quickly it can get away,” Byrne said. “Because the lake levels are so high, you’re creating a backwater effect.”
He said ERCA staff are monitoring the situation “extremely closely” and if necessary, will issue flood advisories, watches or warnings.