Flooding a worry for tourism
Rice Lake operators turning away customers, while Lake Ontario continues to cope with highest water levels on record
Continuing high water levels are playing havoc with tourism businesses on Rice Lake and along the Trent-Severn Waterway.
The locks on the canal system along the Trent-Severn were to open this week but the water levels are not allowing it, according to Parks Canada. Maybe in a week, officials say. Flooding also continues along Lake Ontario shores.
Tourism operators along the south shore of Rice Lake, meantime, have rental cottages surrounded by water, docks submerged, launches closed, boat and cottage rentals suspended – and no idea when this will change, for sure, except for the news from the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority which says rising levels have peaked and the flood warning on the lake is over.
Gail Anderson of Tower Manor cottages rentals west of Bewdley, whose husband John, is a member of the Rice Lake Tourism Association board of directors, says they have had to turn away customers wanting cottage rentals because their docks are under water.
Others are suffering the same things along the lake, she said in an interview.
Mary Harris of Harris Boat Works, just west of Gores Landing, agrees.
Their launch dock is submerged under about a couple of feet of water. When they leave the premises they have to ensure people realize its is closed and unusable at this time.
“It’s a dangerous situation,” Harris said, both trying to launch a boat and coming back in.
All of their docks are submerged. The situation means they can’t rent boats or charge for boat launches.
“All our boat rentals are on land,” Harris said while surveying the flooding situation.
There hasn’t been flooding this high in decades causing the ramp closure. And it’s just not the level of flooding but the duration, she said as it’s been ongoing for two weeks already.
A Young Street, Harwood resort has resorted to sandbagging but the water from Rice Lake has flooded many of their cottages already.
Golden Beach Resort east of Harwood on Rice Lake hasn’t had a lot of cottage flooding but some seasonal trailer site roadways are under water, says its general manager Lawrence Jackson.
All of their docks are also submerged so even if the locks were open there is no place for boaters to tie up and use their facilities, adds Golden Beach’s Michelle Henry.
A flood warning remains in effect through until Sunday for the Lake Ontario shoreline as the International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board continues to determine an outflow release strategy to address high water levels.
“The water level of Lake Ontario is the highest it has been since reliable records began in 1918, breaking the previous record set in June 1952. Lake Ontario is still above the upper regulatory threshold level for this time of year, which allows the Board to continue to maximize the outflows from Lake Ontario to provide all possible relief to riparians living along the shorelines of the entire Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River system, balancing water levels upstream and downstream to minimize flood and erosion impacts to the extent possible,” the warning states.
Lake Ontario residents continue to battle high water
During the Victoria Day long weekend, it was a case of strangers helping strangers with the high water of Lake Ontario.
Along the lakeshore, people who were camping at Presqu’ile Provincial Park joined in with strangers helping bag to the shoreline to save homes.
Karen Caravaggio, her husband and their daughter live on Harbour Street in Brighton and weren’t affected by the flooding because they live on the “dry side” but also came out to help on Sunday.
“When you see people need help, you just do that,” she said.
With high winds smashing the shoreline, Caravaggio said there is no relief.
“And they said the water hasn’t crested yet,” she added. “Properties along the water, some of them have very decent breakwalls and other ones have breakwalls that have worked for 35-years and today’s a new day.”
Neighbours and strangers along with members of the Brighton Fire Department and town staff are doing their best to help homes along the lakeshore.
“It’s just good to see community helping each other out,” Caravaggio said.
Her 15-year-old daughter Rachel helped fill sandbags before the pair met up with others re-enforcing a wall on Harbour Street.
“It’s great to see my daughter helping out who is more keen to do this than her homework,” Caravaggio said.
Further down the road, Daphne Dean, who lives on Harbour Street, had an army of people working on her home, piling sandbags around it as the waves crashed over the breakwall.
“This is awful,” she said. “For me this is my worst predicament. It’s coming over the breakwall. It looks like all water now from our deck.”
The high water is going into the third week, but looking around at people helping, Dean called them “guardian angels.”
“This is tremendous support,” she said. “It makes my heart swell with relief.”