It was enevitable! With the heavy rain, very mild conditions, and all this winter's snow melting, the chance of a flood was very real.
view out the front door!
The water was quite high this morning when I left for work. There was still a thick layer of ice on the river. I noticed near the work place that the Chenal Ecarte (Snye River) had reversed its flow. Normally it flows from the St. Clair River, but it was actually flowing into the St. Clair River! That was not a good sign.
Chenel Ecarte near Johnston Channel (flowing north!)
I got a call at work just after 11 a.m. to come home and move some things since the street was flooded. It was a challenge just to get home due to flooded streets, but I did make it.
Margaret Avenue looking west at Napier St.
The level had receded a bit by the time I got home, as you could see the debris line part way up the driveway. Chunks of ice, logs and other debris was in the street.
Clearing debris. Notice the wooden pallet!
A State of Emergency was declared in Wallaceburg because of the uncertainty of what would happen. There were plans to evacuate the hospital just down the street.
The McKeough Floodway was utilized for the first time since 1991. The dam gates were closed thereby diverting water out to the St. Clair River. Most of the flow had stopped in the north branch, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the flow from the east branch.
Previous to that, the gates had been used on Valentine's Day 1984, almost exactly 25 years ago!
The Floodway was obviously a worthwhile project.
Late in the afternoon when things settled down, I drove around, and went as far as Port Lambton. A tug, Menasha, from Sarnia was just coming up on the entrance to the Snye. It was called in to break up any ice jams. Apparently there may be a jam farther east of Wallaceburg.
north branch at Running Creek
Common Redpoll
On my travels today, I saw a few Tundra Swans outside of Wallaceburg. These would be early spring migrants!
Lots of Pine Siskins and a couple of Redpolls at the feeder today. Nothing new!
Blake ... Wow, you got hit really hard!
ReplyDeleteIt was quite shocking watching the video link you sent me and seeing all the ice in the river along with trees and a picnic table going by!!! Yikes.
Same with all the ice on the roads, on lawns, etc.