Lake Utopia was anything but in 2010. Many homes and cottages in that corner of New Brunswick were heavily damaged following a catastrophic rainfall.
Water is on the rise again and nearby residents are concerned.
“We may be flooded out again if the water continues to rise,” says cottage owner Greg Booth. “When the water is so high like this, it is eating away my bank and the bank of the neighbours next door.”
Warm temperatures are melting a lot of the snow, and having an effect on lake levels.
People who own property around the lake say there's nothing they can do about the warm temperatures, the melting, the run-off, or whatever rain is coming. However, they say there is something that can be done to reduce water levels on Lake Utopia.
Wednesday morning, all of the gates were closed at the hydro-electric dam in St. George. This tends to raise water levels on the lake and Magaguadavic River. The facility is operated by J.D. Irving, Limited. The company says it is monitoring water levels and is operating the dam according to government protocols.
But property owners say there's no excuse for not opening the gates.
“When we were flooded out in 2010, they couldn't open the gates because they had old fashioned timbers in them, but now they have new electronic gates and they tell me they can open them in 20 minutes,” says Booth.
“In my opinion, the time to react is now,” says homeowner Stillmen Wilcox. “Start lowering the lake, get it down so there is a buffer zone there.”
J.D. Irving issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying it has now opened two of the gates to the dam. However, property owners say it will take days before water levels start to subside.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron
