Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter calls up his preferred weather app on his smartphone and checks the forecast for the next week.
When it comes to the potential for flooding in downtown Minden, he said it’s all about the weather – and the water content in the snowpack. here is really about normal.” The mayor added most of the lower lakes have been, because of drought conditions, still running below average “so, you can look at that as storage space.”
The emergency management team – which comprises Parks Canada, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and townships such as Minden Hills, meets weekly as needed this time of year. If there is nothing much to talk about, the MNR simply presents its watershed conditions’ statement.
Overlooking the Gull River April 7, Carter said, “right now, the water coming through.
However, he checked Kennisis Lake April 6 and said levels were rising. “The problem is, three days after Kennisis goes up, the water runs into the Gull River into downtown Minden.
Trent-Severn Waterway anticipates rising lake and river levels
“Everything is the weather. If you have warm days, cold nights, everything goes smoothly. You get a weekend where it goes to 20 C and it rains” not so much.
Looking at his weather forecast, he said he did not see anything “super special.” Nothing worried him in particular, although warmer temperatures are coming.
Carter said the snowpack up north has a high-water content. Parks Canada upgraded their sensor units to measure not just the depth, but the water content.
Carter added so far, he is feeling “okay” that Minden won’t be flooded. “But you get some fluke weather, and then it’s really difficult.”
For now, he said the Burnt and Gull Rivers are both flowing normally. He said dams are open so there is not much they can do. “It comes down to when do you close it to make sure you have water through the summer.”
Carter said there have been improvements with real-time sensors on every lake so the Trent Severn Waterway knows the depth. They have a flow sensor on the Gull River.
“They’ve got an awful lot more data that they can analyze. They do a really good job this time of year. They are working day and night watching it.”
The TSW forecast for April 8 said with the onset of snowmelt and significant rain amounts, water levels and flows are rising rapidly in northern areas. Snow amounts still remain in the northernmost areas of the Gull River and Burnt River systems. Most lake levels on the Gull River and Burnt River systems remain above average and are rising due to melt, accelerated by warm temperatures and significant amounts of received rainfall. Most central lakes are above average and are rising. It went on to say flows on the Gull River will increase as a result of upstream operational adjustments in response to received precipitation. Flows on the Burnt River have peaked but are expected to increase again with forecasted precipitation and ongoing melt.
