Reprieve from rain, flood warnings remain in place in Muskoka

Dry, sunny days have made for a break for flooded communities in the region but caution should still be taken, experts say.

For the second straight day, Mother Nature has cooperated with people in flood-prone areas of Muskoka. A 48-hour reprieve from rain has caught everyone’s attention.

“Everybody is pretty tense obviously, you know, I’d hate to see it go, that’s for sure but we’re just hoping,” says Lynne Currie, a Bala resident.

A section of River Road is closed in Bracebridge Wednesday. While the water levels have gone down slightly in recent days, there are still plenty of properties still affected in town.

Crews are still filling sandbags for residents just in case.

“The Big East, which is a river up in Huntsville that we watch very closely, it’s been down about three or four feet, so we are seeing the north branch of the river kind of recede a little bit,” says Bracebridge Mayor Rick Maloney. “Our challenge continues to be at the mouth of the river in Bracebridge here where both the north and the south branch converge and discharge into Lake Muskoka.”

And that is where much of the attention is being given right now but Maloney says things are, overall, much better Wednesday than even Tuesday. The district says it has placed four households of people in a local motel as part of its homelessness prevention program.

The high water levels are also improving slightly each day in Minden. That community’s state of emergency remains in effect but the mayor says it’s expected to take about a week for the water there to drop to normal levels. Crews will spend the next several days inspecting bridges and roads to determine what damage if any has been caused.

Captain Randy Potts owns and operates Sunset Cruises with his boat, the Peerless 2, on several Muskoka lakes. He says the high water levels have pushed his season back a couple of weeks.

“The high water levels would make it unsafe to be operating. Very few docks would be accessible. Most docks would be either wet or completely wet,” says Potts.

Potts is aiming for a May long weekend kick-off. Residents across Muskoka are waiting and watching patiently. The sun and double digit temperatures seem to have people slightly optimistic .

“Very encouraging. Nice sunny days and I think we have quite a few days of sun coming in the next few days which is fantastic. Keeping our fingers crossed,” says Joey Charron, a Bracebridge resident.

River Road in Bracebridge is the only closed road left in the town. There are still several listed as cautious.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is now saying the flood warning will remain in effect for the Bracebridge-Minden-Parry Sound district until at least next Wednesday.