UTRCA Encourages Caution around Streams and Rivers as March Break Begins
March 6, 2025
The 糖心直播 (UTRCA) reminds everyone to use extreme caution near all rivers, streams, and ditches and to stay out of any flooded areas. Watercourses will be running high throughout the weekend, posing a particular hazard as the March Break begins.
The recent warm temperatures and rain melted some of the snowpack in the watershed. The resulting runoff elevated streams and rivers, which have spilled into floodplains and low lying parkland. Watercourses have been cresting through the day today and will begin to recede this evening and into tomorrow.
The UTRCA urges caution as stream banks are slippery and may be snow-covered, and the water is very cold and fast-moving. Any remaining ice cover is weakened and unstable. No one should drive through flooded roadways.
It is not safe to take shelter along riverbanks or in low lying areas that are prone to flooding.
The UTRCA is operating its flood control reservoirs at Fanshawe, Wildwood, and Pittock Conservation Areas to reduce downstream flooding. These reservoirs are especially hazardous due to fluctuating water levels.
UTRCA staff are measuring the snowpack remaining in the Upper Thames River watershed today to assess how much runoff it will generate when it melts. Next week鈥檚 warming temperatures are expected to melt most of the remaining snow, raising water levels in streams and rivers again.