Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo says water levels on Irondequoit Bay and Lake Ontario have risen 15 inches in the last month…and are 11 inches higher than at this time last year. Army Corps of Engineers forecasts say the water could rise another nine to 11 inches by the end of May.
At Meyer’s Marina on Irondequoit Bay, Dinolfo says that 
threatens lake and bay shore residents, businesses and public infrastructure. She spoke in a news conference with the supervisors of Irondequoit and Webster, and with Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn. All called on the International Joint Commission to open the dam at Massena on the St. Lawrence River and let more water out of the lake. She says that appeal has been forwarded to the White House.
The IJC said this week that Lake Ontario is close to a “trigger point” at which it may decide to release more water. But spokesman Frank Bevaqua says the entire system including the St. Lawrence is at high water, too. He says they can’t release water too fast or they’d flood out communities downstream that also need protecting. The IJC has also said for years that water doesn’t flow out of the lake as fast as people assume, dam or no dam.
Most local officials and shoreline residents are blaming the new Plan 2014 regulations for the high water levels. Bevaqua says at most, the new plan to allow the lake to rise and fall more naturally accounts for only a few inches of these higher water levels. He says the real cause is an unusually wet spring that’s affecting the entire system.
In the meantime, Sheriff O’Flynn called on all boaters to stay 500 feet away from shore for safety, as docks and other shoreline installations are under water. He and Dinolfo also said wakes should be held down by running at idle near shore to avoid damaging shoreline property.
Dinolfo says the county is working with towns to fill and distribute sandbags to help protect buildings and public infrastructure.