It’s difficult to imagine the scale of flooding when you are on the ground. These photos, captured by local resident Dan Pinckard, show the extent to which the Muskoka River has swelled beyond its banks in downtown Huntsville.
Almost all of Brendale Square as well as the south end of John Street and the west end of Cann Street are under water.
Pinckard took the photos on the morning of April 24, 2019 using a drone.
Despite a drop in water flow at a gauge on the Big East River at Williamsport Road, which usually means the water level will recede in downtown Huntsville within 72 hours, the flood waters have continued to rise.
Town Dock and Dara Howell Way on April 24, 2019 (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
High water flowing under Huntsville’s historic swing bridge on April 24, 2019 (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
Many long-time Huntsville residents are saying this is the worst flooding they’ve seen in the area.
Pinckard also capture these photos of the Hutcheson Beach area and Lake Vernon:
A person walking along Hutcheson Beach Road on April 24, 2019 (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
April 24, 2019 Hutcheson Beach area on Lake Vernon (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
Hutcheson Beach on Lake Vernon (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
April 24, 2019 Lake Vernon shoreline (Photo: Dan Pinckard)
The Town of Huntsville released a statement today notifying residents that waters will continue to rise for the next several days, more slowly in the town core and rapidly in areas to the south. Read the full details here.
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Simple solution…
Don’t build anything important in a flood plain.
If you really want to build in a flood plain build it so that a flood (which will always come) will do minimal damage to your construction.
Be aware that flood insurance will not be available to you in a flood plain area.
Check out the solution that was created to stop the flooding of the Grand River north of Guelph and all points south to Lake Erie. They carved out a lake at Belwood with a dam at end of it and let the would-be flood waters flow down the Grand River gradually over the summer. Worked like a charm! No more catastrophic flooding!
Brendale Square has in my memory been flooding for 50 years and no doubt long before that. Long before the Global warming craze. Beer Lake.
Nothing new in this.
The only solution is to blast out a rocky hill and create more useful development land (hospital site?) and use the rock to raise the whole Brendale flood prone area 5 feet creating more useful area high and dry.
Water will run down hill. Always has and always will.
It’s a terrible situation, and I empathize greatly for the people and businesses affected by the now annual Spring flood, particularly around Brendale Square.
Could the town hire a Dutch water management engineering firm to help us with this? The Dutch are masters at controlling sea levels on an even bigger scale and have provided consultation to many countries around the world which are facing climate change issues. Additionally, they have been very successful in creating attractive, functional and flood resilient urban spaces for their citizens. With careful design planning, Brendale Square could become a similarly excellent urban space for locals and tourists alike and would certainly be better than finding ourselves under water every spring.