Rainy River Watershed Conditions Notice

Rain has continued to fall in the basin which has increased already high inflows to area lakes resulting in rising water levels. The basin has not seen these wet of conditions since 1950/2001. The Water Levels Committee met Saturday night to discuss options for outflows from Namakan Lake and Rainy Lake dams. The Committee determined that closing sufficient gates to reduce the flows on Rainy River and thus storing water on Rainy Lake to alleviate flooding downstream at the Town of Rainy River would increase flooding upstream and no net benefits would be possible. Therefore dams at Namakan Lake and Rainy Lake remain fully open and passing maximum flows. Inflows to Namakan Lake and Rainy Lake are greater than outflow capacity therefore the lake elevations are still rising. Rainy River is rising as well due to local rain, rising tributaries downstream of the dams and outflows from the dams.

The International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board advises shoreline property interests to take precautions against rising water and boaters to exercise caution due to submerged hazards.

Due to the potential for high winds associated with this storm, shoreline property interests may experience higher local water level increases due to wind setup.

The Water Levels Committee is regularly monitoring conditions in the watershed and will post updates as conditions warrant.

The latest information lake levels, dam settings, and basin flows can be found online at http://www.ijc.org/en_/RLWWB. For further information, please call (800) 661-5922 ex 3.