Report on 'historic' 2022 Rainy Lake area flooding to be released later today

A new report on last year's flooding in the Rainy River area, to be released Friday, will both shed some light on the events of spring 2022, and provide recommendations as to how flooding can better be handled in the future.

The report was done by the International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board's Water Levels Committee, and will be posted online on Friday.

"For both Rainy and Namakan lakes, those were historic peaks," said Megan Garner, Canadian Water Levels Committee co-chair, adding the water levels rivalled those of other "big flood years" in 2014 and 1950.

Garner said the flooding was simply due to the "unprecedented levels of precipitation" during the spring 2022.

"We did have above-normal snowpack, but we were heading off a drought year that previous year," she said. "Starting in April, the level of precipitation was beyond anything historic that had been received, and just beyond anything we would have reasonably forecasted would occur."

The report was compiled due to the significance of the flooding, Garner said, and examines how the flooding progressed, and makes some recommendations as to how things can be better handled in the future.

"It's something we had promised, obviously, and talked about with folks in the basin last fall," Garner said. "We toured communities, First Nations, met with groups and media around the lakes during the flood event. It was almost actually at the peak of the event."

Subsequent trips were made in August and September to talk to people, and better understand the impact of the flooding. 

Among the recommendations is to increase communication with residents of the area, Garner said.

"We understand a high level of desire in the communities and folks who live around the lakes to understand what's happening and to be involved," she said. "So we have historically had one engagement point with folks, which usually occurs around the end of February, where the water Levels Committee hosts called a pre-spring engagement meeting."

However, going forward, more such meetings will be held, including one in April, during which the committee will provide an update on conditions in the area, and get input from the residents in terms of what they're seeing.

In addition, Garner said, the committee will provide more information on its website, to media, and on social media, in an effort to "make sure people know what the activities of the Water Levels Committee and the International League Watershed Board are."

As for spring 2023, Garner said it's too early to determine whether more flooding will occur.

"We can look for risk factors, but by no means can we declare that a flood would occur at this time, because the the conditions are still winter conditions," she said. "The conditions that cause flooding don't manifest until later in the year."