(Orleans)– Water levels on the Iowa Great Lakes are quickly rising once again with the heavy rain over the weekend. Severe storms that brought 50 to 60 mph wind this (Mon.) morning again caused damage to docks, boats and hoists, especially on Big Spirit Lake. Mike Hawkins, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources encourages lakeshore property owners to report damage…
“Any storm damage or shoreline problems that folks have, we’re happy to help with some technical assistance on that. If somebody has a bank collapse or other problems along the shoreline, we can certainly lend some technical assistance and meet onsite for some of those issues.”
He says water levels are to the point now to where some of that could start happening…
“The water level is still not up as far as it was 2018 and it was at about that point when those water levels got that high that we started to see more bank issues, shoreline erosion, folks needing to so some emergency work to stabilize shorelines, so I would suspect that that’s going to happen, especially if we get some additional wind events.”
For those with docks and hoists, Hawkins says you need to closely monitor the situation and keep in close contact with your service provider…
“I wouldn’t bet on water levels going down. We got some relief last week, but this long term forecast is not good, so I think we’re going to continue to raise water levels, so work with that service provider to make the necessary adjustments on your boat, hoist and dock system.”
He’s also pleading with boat operators to be considerate of lakeshore property owners, even though the no wake rule isn’t in effect just yet…
“That speed of around seven to 10, 11 miles an hour can really plow a large wave even though the boater feels like they’re moving fairly slowly, they’re moving a lot of water and creating a large wake that ends up on the shoreline. And so docks, hoists, especially those vulnerable shorelines, can experience some erosion with those large waves. So be considerate, even before the emergency rule goes into place.”
The no wake rule for the Okoboji’s goes into affect at 6.2 feet; as of about mid-morning the Okoboji’s were at 5.82 feet. For Big Spirit Lake the no wake threshold is 16 feet. The level at mid-morning this (Mon.) morning was 15.35.
