Otonabee Conservation advises that a FLOOD WATCH is now in effect for the entire watershed region, and it will remain in effect until Monday, February 26, 2018.
If at any time you are experiencing a flood emergency, please call 911 to alert your local municipality.
This Flood Watch has been issued to alert watershed residents and businesses located along the shores of the region’s rivers, streams and creeks that flood conditions are a possibility.
WATERSHED CONDITIONS
Owing to recently experienced rainfall and warm air temperatures, ice cover in the upper reaches of area rivers, streams and creeks has broken-up, and the ice chunks then carried downstream where they may be causing a blockage of flow. Where blockages are occurring, water may be held back causing elevated water levels upstream. Water levels in the vicinity of Willow and Greenwood Roads, for example, are approximately 0.75 meters higher than what would be expected given current flows through the Otonabee River at these locations.
Ice jams are dynamic. If the downstream flow of water is able to erode a sufficiently large enough path through the ice jam, then upstream water levels will not worsen, and will likely even slowly improve. On the other hand, if the ice jam breaks, then the water being held back will be suddenly released, and while this will then cause upstream water levels to quickly return to normal, flash flooding may occur downstream. In the event that the ice jam increasingly restricts the river channel, then the water being held back will likewise increase causing flooding upstream. Therefore, residents and businesses located in low-lying areas on the shores of area rivers, streams and creeks are hereby advised to prepare themselves and their property for the possibility of flooding due to ice jamming.
This Flood Watch message will remain in effect until Monday, February 26, 2018.