Spring flooding in Sudbury district likely minimal due to favorable weather conditions

Conservation Sudbury says it is keeping a watchful eye for potential flooding on local waterways, particularly given the amount of snow that needs to melt away.

Last week, the conservation authority issued a water safety statement for the Wahnapitae River, adding that flows along that body of water are higher than normal.

The high water level is the result of a precautionary measure upstream in preparation for major melting.

“The dam operators are being very proactive in anticipating the amount of water that we’re going to have released as the snow melts and doing everything they can to store that as best as possible,” said Phillipa Cryderman, Conservation Sudbury’s director of natural hazards.

In the Wahnapitae watershed, the dam operator is Ontario Power Generation (OPG).

Cryderman told CTV News that in advance of the full spring melt, OPG has been working to free up storage space within the Lake Wahnapitae reservoir due to the significant snowpack in the watershed.

“We’re at – I guess at the high end – 250 millimetres of snow-water equivalent within the snowpack, which is double what we could see on average for this time of the year,” she said.

Cryderman said a significant warming event or heavy rain could cause issues, but the weather forecast over the next few weeks should help keep flooding to a minimum across the conservation authority’s catchment area.

“Kind of a warm-up through the day, so a lot of that snow will turn into water, run-off during the day. Then overnight the temperatures drop back down below zero again giving it a time to kind of lock up and have a little bit of relief during that flow contribution,” she said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources Sudbury District looks after watersheds within the Wahnapitae, Vermillion, Spanish and French Rivers.

Resource management coordinator Derrick Luetchford agreed that the snowpack within their watersheds is also roughly double what they’d normally see.

“There’s no flooding right now – we’re not anticipating flooding. We’re keeping an eye on that every day,” he said.

“Right now, conditions are favourable: It’s a little bit warmer during the day so we’re getting a bit of a release in that snowpack but it’s also cold at night which is very favourable for us,” said Luetchford, echoing Cryderman comments.

The MNR and Conservation Sudbury are also partners with OPG and the City of Greater Sudbury.

“Everybody’s talking this time of the year,” Luetchford said.

The MNR and Conservation Sudbury are responsible for overland flooding of lakes and watercourses.

“As always, we will be monitoring conditions and complete any additional work as necessary,” added a city spokesperson.