The Toronto Region Conservation Authority says that the water levels in Lake Ontario are approaching the levels recorded in the spring of 2017 when dozens of homes on the Toronto Islands were damaged by flooding.
The TRCA issued a shoreline hazard warning for areas along Lake Ontario on Tuesday afternoon.
The warning states that the Lake Ontario water level in Toronto has now reached 75.5 metres, which is just short of the 75.58 metre average water level that observed during flooding on the Toronto Islands in April, 2017.
The TRCA says that the highest daily water level recorded during the flooding event back in 2017 was 75.93 metres.
“Properties along the shoreline and the Toronto Islands which experienced flooding during the 2017 event could begin to experience flood impacts as the water level in Lake Ontario continues to rise. Wave action from southwesterly or easterly wind directions could exacerbate erosion and flooding impacts,” the warning states.
The flooding on the Toronto Islands back in the spring of 2017 eroded significant parts of the shoreline and resulted in a three-month closure of the popular attraction to non-residents.
In its warning, the TRCA says that “impacts to beaches can be expected, as well as increased erosion along the Lake Ontario shoreline.”
“Where we are right now is at those earliest impact thresholds. We are not anywhere near the peak levels we saw in 2017 but the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board is forecasting that lake levels are going to continue to rise so now is the time to get prepared because we are starting to approach the range of levels we saw in 2017,” Rehana Rajabali of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority told CP24 on Tuesday afternoon.
