RIVER UPDATE. Mother nature gave us all some welcome relief by not dumping on our basin as much rain as originally thought. Yes the sump pumps are running but the river is a far cry from this time last year. As we all struggle with what the world is dumping on us let us hope it will be over by the time summer gets here. The dam is still running at a proactive level of between 1.5/1.8 as set in the operations plan. We will get through this in time and I wish all fellow river residents prayers [...]
Looks like we received less rain in the basin than was projected. Gages have started to flat line which is good news for residents sump pumps. There is more rain in the forecast this week unfortunately. As with all rain events if it stays more south we will see less of a rise here. Sheriff Caruana monitors the dam on a daily basis and will have com-ed go back out when needed for necessary adjustments. Thank you Com-ed and Sheriff Caruana for your non stop attention to area residents river [...]
Did a check of area dams. Our dam is at 70% open as of 10:00. The beloit dam is at 30% open at 10:00. The reason we are open more is due to the fact of the pec. and sugar rivers being out of their banks. The kish. river is giving its flow to byron. All dams in the country open as needed as the flow rates increase and close as the flow decreases. We should not send excessive water to ogle county and rock county should not send excessive water to us. Everyone works together to the benefit of all.[...]
Based on current conditions, the risk of flooding is near average to above average. The greatest risk of flooding is in the Rock and Fox River basins. https://www.weather.gov/lot/spring_flood_outlook?fbclid=IwAR08uEXqiJbrGymCFcejAJsvzILhJQBgSE-eo6T21syK62hb4Pl9jYI8big
River update. Have been in contact with the NWS this morning. The rain that is forecast for Monday has not yet been imputed into the future line yet for Latham. That will happen on Sunday night. The Sheriff has ComED scheduled to make another adjustment at the dam today. We currently have 3.1 million gallons of water flowing past here per minute. The river levels are much better than a year ago at this time. The function of the weather service is to give us advanced warning of river rises for [...]
The call has been made to the sheriff to have the gates adjusted to keep the dam running in a proactive manner for winnebago county. There is more rain in the forecast for the weekend.
The National Weather Service (NWS), IL, office is looking for individuals that live or work along area rivers to become part of our Volunteer River Ice Spotter Network. River ice spotters share important information such as extent of ice cover, ice cover trends, and location of ice jams which is very important for issuing timely warnings. https://www.weather.gov/lot/River_Ice_Spotter_Network
FYI. The spillway went dry yesterday at the dam. An adjustment was made to correct the problem. It was a little to much so they will be back out today to correct. Thank you for your patience. The yahara river was the reason for the rockton gage moving so much the last day and a half I was informed by the NWS yesterday.
River update: I have been in contact with Sheriff Caruana this morning. I requested that there be an adjustment made at the dam for the river rise that will occur from today's rain. He informed me that Com-Ed will take the level at the dam to 1.5 either later today or first thing in the morning. I would like to advise river residents to add more ropes to their docks and remove or secure items in their back yards this fall. The flood this march happened very quickly as we all are now aware of. We[...]
We received this from the NOAA - NWS Chicago Office: Rock River Basin and Fox River Basin hydrology contacts, For your situational awareness... we want to bring to your attention an increased risk for flooding next spring due to very wet conditions this fall. Typically, fall is too early to determine the risk for flooding the following spring, but conditions across large portions of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions have been wet enough to likely increase the risk of elevated [...]