Julien St-Jean
Mansfield et pontefract July 22, 2021
Connie Mayhew and her family were at their home in Ottawa when they received a call from their cottage’s neighbour, who told them that their dock had begun to float away down the Ottawa River.
Sudden increases to the Lac Coulonge area of the Ottawa River water levels on July 17 and 18 caused the dock, which was set for much lower levels, to float away. Thankfully, Mayhew’s neighbours strapped the dock down before it drifted downriver.
Though Mayhew noticed the water level rising slightly in previous days, the sudden drastic increase caught her off guard.
“It had been so low all summer,” said Mayhew. “I didn’t expect it to rise that fast. If we hadn’t taken our boat out, it would have floated away.”
Michael Farich, a water resource engineer with the Ottawa River Regulation Secretariat, said that increased water levels in the Ottawa River were caused by heavy rainfall on July 15 near Temiskaming.
According to Farich, the Temiskaming region received 125 millimeters of rain in just three days, with 87 millimeters in just 12 hours. The lake’s water level approached its maximum limit before the Lake Temiskaming dams were opened in response.
“So essentially what happened is that the lake jumped about 20 centimeters in a day,” said Farich. “That increase in flow has worked its way through the system.”
According to Farich, the flow continued southward down the river in the following days, causing the water levels near Pembroke to rise roughly 60 centimetres and levels near Fort Coulonge to rise 35 centimetres. He added that areas above dams downstream, such as Rapides des Joachims, should not be affected.
Despite these sudden increases, Farich said there isn’t a risk of flooding.
“They aren’t flood levels by any means, but what they are is a pretty significant inconvenience because levels have been very low,” said Farich. “We’ve had a pretty dry spring and early summer, and it’s only now where we’re getting some recent rainfall where things are increasing.”
“It’s the change [in river levels] that’s difficult for people because their kayaks or paddle boards, boats or docks are all adjusted for those lower levels,” said Farich.
The flow continued down the Ottawa River causing increased water levels in Ottawa on July 21. According to the Ottawa River Regulation Secretariat, it should take about a week for water levels to decrease back down to normal conditions.
Mayhew said that there’s been lots of debris floating down the river since water levels increased. She hopes that, as water levels continue to decline, so too will the amount of debris in the lake.
“It’s one thing to lose a dock or material things, it’s another to get hurt,” she said.
More information can be found at https://ottawariver.ca/
