High water has flooded docks, wrecked breakwalls, may discourage summer tourism

OGDEN DUNES, INDIANA - The Region lost out on $800,000 in sorely needed funding for an Army Corps of Engineers study on beach erosion, Executive Director of Indiana Dunes Tourism Lorelei Weimer told the Tourism Board at its meeting yesterday.

Detroiters are still wringing out their lives, two weeks after torrential downpours swamped roadways and homes.

May 14, 2019 — Water levels on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are almost two feet above average for this time of year, but they haven’t reached 2017 levels yet. On Sunday, Lake Ontario was still six and a half inches below where it was the same day two years ago, when major flooding hit the region.

More flooding and erosion — which affects everything from water quality to property values and tourism — are expected in the Great Lakes region this spring as water levels continue their rapid rise after a 14-year low.

Rising water levels on Lake Michigan will mean crowded beaches at Whitefish Dunes State Park this summer. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is forecasting higher water levels on all of the Great Lakes this year.

Communities along Lake Ontario’s southern and eastern shores are continuing in a “worst-case scenario” mode this week, piling up sandbags and taking other preventative measures in anticipation of flooding that could come as early as this weekend.

Portage, Indiana - Advocates for the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk are searching for another funding source for a federal study to save the park from erosion after $800,000 in state funding slated for the next two years was abruptly sliced from the final budget.

Davenport abruptly joined the ranks of Iowa regions ravaged by muddy floodwaters this spring when the Mississippi River rushed into the downtown of the state's third-largest city Tuesday afternoon.

Sen. Karen Tallian secured the necessary funding in the state’s biennial budget toward a study to solve the erosion plaguing Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.

OSWEGO — Oswego is hoping the federal government comes through with money to fix its beloved shoreline damaged during flooding in the summer of 2017.

'It means a lot of my friends are now going to be able to access our downtown lake, dip their toes in the water and enjoy the lake like everybody else' Linda Thomas-Ouellette

INDIANA - Time is not on the side of the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. With the Indiana legislature preparing to finalize the state’s biennial budget this month, advocates working to save the riverwalk from further erosion and the resulting damage said receiving $1 million in state funds now toward beach nourishment and a study on long-term solutions is critical.

Damage from flooding in March 2019 is estimated at US$8 billion from events across the globe, according to Aon’s “Global Catastrophe Recap – March 2019.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A budget proposal that President Donald Trump unveiled last week calls for ending a ban on dumping material dredged from Cleveland harbor and the Cuyahoga River into Lake Erie without approval from the state of Ohio.

The Great Lakes region already is warming and changing faster than much of North America — and will continue to do so as global warming increases. That was the summary finding of a new report, released Thursday, compiled by 18 scientists from across the region, both U.S. and Canadian.

Governments as far back as the Roman Empire have recognized it, but New Jersey is still trying to enshrine in law the public's right to have access to waterways and shorelines.

How much of Lake Michigan's beaches are public — and what you can do on them — is the subject of two bills currently making their way through the statehouse.

This Winter Marks Fifth Time In 2 Decades Lake Superior Has Nearly Frozen Solid

March 02-- Mar. 2--New York's U.S. senators are urging the International Joint Commission to prevent a repeat of flooding that occurred in 2017 along the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Mayor, non-profits warn SB 581 strips rights, endangers lakefront access to Lake Michigan.

The Long Beach Community Alliance (LBCA) and Save the Dunes are warning that Indiana Senate Bill 581 poses a grave threat to Indiana public’s rights on the shoreline as well as to the management of upland dunes, affecting more than just Lake Michigan’s coastal communities.