It’s a better, drier year on Lake Ontario, a year after the 2017 floods subsided. On an inspection tour of the recovery today, Greece Supervisor Bill Reilich said millions of dollars worth of damage to private homes remains to be fixed, because there were only so many contractors able to do the work.
That includes basements that still have water in them and at the height of the floods last year, had mosquitoes breeding indoors.
He says unfortunately, the emergency rules set by the state last year to give rapid approval of home repair grants… reverted back to normal January First, meaning some people have had to wait 60 days or more for approval of their funding.
This year, the International Joint Commission and the International Lake Ontario St. Lawrence River Board have kept outflows from Lake Ontario at near record highs…bringing the lake much closer to its average depth. Reilich says that’s a tacit acknowledgement from the international regulators that they should have been letting more water out last year, although he says they won’t admit it.