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Chris Mikula
OTTAWA — September rains pushed just short of a record, and caused a sudden rise in the Ottawa River that surprised homeowners, boaters and even the experts.
The 90 millimetres of rain that fell upriver last weekend came downstream just in time to meet more rain falling here, raising the Ottawa River to spring-like levels from extreme lows.
Shoreline homeowners who weren’t prepared found the sudden rise of about 60 centimetres damaged docks, and broke mooring lines by lifting boats beyond the reach of the ropes.
“It’s very high now. Of course nobody tells you, eh?” said Brian Davis, manager of the Port-of-Call Marina near Constance Bay, where about 60 boats are still in the water.
The 90 millimetres of rain that fell upriver last weekend came downstream just in time to meet more rain falling here, raising the Ottawa River to spring-like levels from extreme lows.
Shoreline homeowners who weren’t prepared found the sudden rise of about 60 centimetres damaged docks, and broke mooring lines by lifting boats beyond the reach of the ropes.
“It’s very high now. Of course nobody tells you, eh?” said Brian Davis, manager of the Port-of-Call Marina near Constance Bay, where about 60 boats are still in the water.
“The level’s up more than expected, so it caused people some grief. Docks, boats floating away, that sort of thing. They didn’t expect the level to go up so they weren’t ready for it.
“I know people have had boats float away. Some of them don’t even know they’ve lost them. They won’t be here until the weekend.”
Read more at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Extreme+lows+Spring+like+highs+Ottawa+River/3604518/story.html