Officials who help regulate the level of Lake Ontario are pointing to some hopeful signs in the effort to deal with the ongoing flooding issues along the lake shore.
The level of Lake Ontario is still at a record - hovering at around 249' - but officials with the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board said that water levels have started to stabilize.
Keith Koralewski, an official with the board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that less rain has helped. Plus, he said with the forecast for drier, warmer weather later this week, it should help even more.
“When we see dry weather, we should see the levels taper off and start to decrease, but again, we can’t control what’s coming in to Lake Ontario, so if we do see some wet weather in the future, that will certainly have a play on levels,” Koralewski said.
Koralewski said the Lake Ontario Board has also been able to increase the amount of water it releases from the lake, through a dam on the St. Lawrence River. The amount of what the board can release is dependent on conditions involving the Ottawa River.
Koralewski also noted that wind is a factor causing some shoreline flooding, but he said that threat decreases as the lake level subsides going into the summer.
