A report from the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board today (Thu) finds it was extreme weather and an unusually wet spring that caused last year’s flooding along the lake shore, not Plan 2014.
The plan for regulating Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence has been subjected to intense criticism since the floods a year ago that caused substantial shoreline damage. The report, from the board charged with implementing those regulations, says the floods were simply a case of too much water coming in faster than the St. Lawrence could take it away. The board says under those conditions the response under the new plan was essentially the same as the old plan, and it says the result under the old plan would have been the same.
Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich called the report “an insult” and said the board was ducking responsibility for the flooding.
The board also says it can reduce flood damage when the high waters come, but can’t prevent it. It says shoreline communities will have to expect floods periodically because of climate change.
The board is a division of the International Joint Commission, the U.S. and Canadian panel regulating the Great Lakes.