Christian Gammon-Roy
Tribune
Water levels on Lake Nipissing, the Sturgeon River and other area lakes remain high according to the municipality of West Nipissing and the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), but the situation has stabilized in the last two weeks and the worst is hopefully behind us. The municipality has been maintaining a page dedicated to ‘Spring Flooding around West Nipissing’, providing updates and information on road closures, sand bag availability and more as things progress. Luckily, they have been progressing positively, with water finally receding after a harrowing April of washouts, road closures, damaged docks and shorelines and a delayed boating season. The town of Field, no stranger to flooding, again suffered some of the worst consequences; the section of Hwy 64 crossing the town, a main artery for Field traffic, was submerged and closed for several days before the water finally abated, while parts of Leduc and Ashburton roads remained closed.
The town’s Emergency Declaration issued on April 18 was lifted a full month later, on May 19. However, even with the crisis passed, water levels remain concerningly high. On May 15, the MNR warned that water levels on Lake Nipissing continued to “exceed the maximum non-damage level” of 196.22 mm, as of May 14. With many docks still submerged or just at the waterline, the town and several area outfitters delayed opening their marinas and boat launches. In fact, the marina at Minnehaha Bay remains closed, but is expected to open June 8 – quite a late start to the season.
“The issue with Lake Nipissing is that even if the water is low, if you get a west wind it can flood because of those waves. Say the water isn’t coming over the bank, well with those waves it’ll flood, and it’ll cause damage and erosion,” explains Ward 1 councillor Kris Rivard, who also happens to live right on the banks of the Sturgeon River near Minnehaha Bay.
Despite being isolated from the greater open lake, Rivard explains that even the Sturgeon River is susceptible to such damage, notably when boaters cause waves in their wake. “Last night, I was in my yard and there are Sea-Doos ripping around, and I’m watching the waves batter around the shore where my breakwall is, but my breakwall is completely underwater,” he describes. In addition to the erosion concerns, Rivard warns that structures along the shoreline are going to be taking more punishment than normal with waves reaching them. “All the boathouses are still kind of underwater, so you can imagine every time a boat passes, that’s more damage than usual since that’s hitting the siding on the boathouse.,” he points out. So, even with the water not necessarily reaching above some property lines, Rivard insists that the water is high enough to call it flooding. “People think that flooding only means water being over the shoreline, but no, it’s any high levels that can cause damage,” he asserts.
