Detroit River very high summer 2019. Canal Homes Impacted ETC.

I went to Riverside Park [[off W. Grand Blvd) by the Ambassador Bridge and noted the Detroit River is VERY high and fast moving. The edge there is solid there but you can see the difference in water height, like you could step right 'over' into the river compared to usual lower depths.

Granted the Detroit River is actually a strait so slow and meandering is not its character, but the lakes on either side have impacted its level. It is being reported as running much faster than normal. The wind was low the day I went but it appeared quite choppy [[see photo below).

On the Windsor side they are asking boaters to give more shoreline space to prevent high wakes. Freighters have been asked to reduce their speed.

A Seattle news source ran a story on the impact along our canals, east Jefferson area [[see that an other info):

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...detroit-river/

https://www.wxyz.com/news/detroit-ri...ng-report-says

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ds/1705631001/

Attachment 38681

Before it got taken over by NOAA, the Great Lakes Survey was run by the Corps of Engineers. In addition to the navigational charts, they also produced a graph of mean lake levels from 1880 or so to the current time for all of the great lakes.

There sees to be a cycle of high and low water over time. 1950 was a low while 1950 was a high. Many summer cottages built in the low water 1930s were under water in 1952. This cycle has continues to the present. This may bvery well be another peak high.

My brother-in-law inherited a cottage on Lake Huron near Lexington, which he fortunately sold 3 years ago [[beach will be gone). The last high water mark was reached in 1986, so it has been nearly 35 years of lower lake levels since then.

The water is just inches away from going over M-29 near St. John's marsh [[South of Algonac). Many lakefront homeowners in that area are flooded already, and those on septic fields are in even more trouble as they can become unusable if inundated with groundwater.

Unfortunately, I fear the major problems are yet to come. If the water remains abnormally high, and we have a harsh winter followed by a quick Spring thaw the damage along the river could be devastating. Here's a link to the ice flow from the Winter before last in marine City, and this was when the water was still more than foot lower than it is now.

If this happens and the ice breakers can't keep up, some of those houses along the seawall are gone! The ice will literally bulldoze them over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkM50aIqok8

I visited Bishop Park in Wyandotte last week and the water was splashing onto the boardwalk. I talked to a lifelong resident and they said they had never seen the water come onto the boardwalk.

^^^ Sounds like it may be time to sale and get out while one can, but that is far harder than it sounds.

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Originally Posted by Zacha341

^^^ Sounds like it may be time to sale and get out while one can, but that is far harder than it sounds.

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There are many more for sale signs along the water this year than there were last. As you said, it's harder than it sounds. Selling a high priced waterfront home when you literally have "No wake" signs in your driveway and the toilet gurgles when you flush it isn't an easy task.

^^^ I've never wanted water front property. Too cold. I am wishing everyone well involved. Per one of the links I posted a woman renting cannot get back into her home to get her things due to water. Horrible!

Send water. We'll take all you can spare. Ray1936 in dry Henderson, Nevada.

Lakes survey was where my Great grandfather worked for 46 years until his retirement in 1950Attachment 38685

People I know who live on Harbor Island have actually had their yards, driveways, and basements underwater for a couple of months now.

Along the northern Lake Erie shoreline in Essex Co. Ontario where my mother's family is from, recent years have seen a lot of well-off Canadians, particularly from the Toronto area, come in and buy a bunch of old summer cottages, tear them down, and replace them with large expensive homes directly on the lakefront. Now they have waves breaking in their yards on windy days. My family's place on the other hand is atop a large bluff and there would have to be an ark floating on any flood big enough to reach it.

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Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Along the northern Lake Erie shoreline in Essex Co. Ontario where my mother's family is from, recent years have seen a lot of well-off Canadians, particularly from the Toronto area, come in and buy a bunch of old summer cottages, tear them down, and replace them with large expensive homes directly on the lakefront. Now they have waves breaking in their yards on windy days.

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There's a risky, but possibly lucrative speculation. Buy lakefront property low this year, then sell it high in a few years when the lakes are lower. Of course, if lake levels continue to rise because of weather changes, your investments would be underwater.

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Originally Posted by archfan

There's a risky, but possibly lucrative speculation. Buy lakefront property low this year, then sell it high in a few years when the lakes are lower. Of course, if lake levels continue to rise because of weather changes, your investments would be underwater.

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[[snare drum)

That will be a lesson to the real estate developers. Do not build so close to the water.

Anyone visiting the Detroit river to notice that the water is VERY high once again [[see my OP photo showing how high it was last year)?

At riverside park [[which is partially closed, but people go there to fish and water watch) looking over to Canada you can see the water line high at their piers and the river is so higher visually looking down from where I was.

What's going on at the Canals? I'd imagine they are flooded again...

They've installed temporary dams to help control the flooding.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/03/30/temporary-dams-prevent-flooding-rising-water-levels/5086383002/

Half of the perimeter road that loops around Belle Isle has been closed all year long. About 3 weeks ago, the island significantly flooded due to a very intense rain event, the road between Lake Okonoka and the River was completely submerged. To get through the eastern end of the island, you have to take Central Avenue through the wooded area.

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Originally Posted by masterblaster

Half of the perimeter road that loops around Belle Isle has been closed all year long. About 3 weeks ago, the island significantly flooded due to a very intense rain event, the road between Lake Okonoka and the River was completely submerged. To get through the eastern end of the island, you have to take Central Avenue through the wooded area.

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You don't think it had anything to do with the State opening the East end of the island and letting the river flow into it?

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

You don't think it had anything to do with the State opening the East end of the island and letting the river flow into it?

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That's definitely part of the current problem, but in their defense record high water levels weren't exactly a pressing issue when these changes were planned.

If this continues I wonder if it would be feasible [[And cost effective) to install a lock and pump system? Something that would allow the water to flow freely when levels are appropriate, but offer some flood control when they're not.

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

You don't think it had anything to do with the State opening the East end of the island and letting the river flow into it?

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Johnny5 is correct. This May just past, Lakes St. Clair and Erie just set their record-high levels for May, dating back to 1918. These lakes control the level of Detroit River. I couple weeks ago, I was jogging through the woods on Belle Isle, and I flagged down a DNR truck. I asked him why 1/2 the trees were dead in the woods, and during our conversation he said they were going to build some kind of dam to regulate the flow from the Detroit river into Lake Okonoka.

^^^ Why are the trees dead in the woods at Belle Isle?

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Originally Posted by Zacha341

^^^ Why are the trees dead in the woods at Belle Isle?

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There's a bad case of oak wilt on the island.

Have the canal homes in Gibraltar and Grosse Ile been affected as well from this?