Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) urges everyone to exercise caution outdoors with watercourses running high through the weekend and into March Break.
The conservation authority said everyone should be careful near rivers, streams, and ditches and stay out of any flooded areas.
“It’s always our big worry. We always seem to get this kind of weather, or these kinds of conditions over the March Break and that’s always the thing we are really most concerned about,” Teresa Hollingsworth, UTRCA’s Manager of Community and Corporate Services, told MyStratfordNow.
The recent warm temperatures and rain melted some of the snowpack in the watershed and the resulting runoff elevated streams and rivers, which have spilled into floodplains and low lying parkland.
Stream banks are slippery and may be snow-covered, and the water is very cold and fast-moving. Any remaining ice cover is weakened and unstable.
Hollingsworth said with many students off next week, safety is paramount.
“It’s a safety issue when water is so attractive to children. They don’t realize how slippery the banks are and just how dangerous it is.”
No one should drive through flooded roadways. It is not safe to take shelter along riverbanks or in low lying areas that are prone to flooding.
The UTRCA is operating its flood control reservoirs at Wildwood, Fanshawe, and Pittock Conservation Areas to reduce downstream flooding.
Those reservoirs are hazardous due to fluctuating water levels.
UTRCA staff were set to measure the snowpack remaining in the Upper Thames River watershed on Thursday to assess how much runoff it will generate when it melts.
Next week’s warming temperatures are expected to melt most of the remaining snow, raising water levels in streams and rivers again.
