After days of water damage across Ontario, flood concerns are encroaching on Toronto.
The Toronto Region Conservation Authority says water levels in Lake Ontario are rising and the numbers are nearing those recorded during the floods of 2017.
A shoreline hazard warning was issued for the Toronto Islands and areas along Lake Ontario in the city limits on Tuesday afternoon.
“What we’re entering into is kind of long, prolonged lake level situation. When the days are windy, then those beaches can actually start to be harmful as we start to get those high waves,” Rehana Rajabali of the TRCA told CTV News Toronto.
“In addition to that, with the lake levels themselves being elevated, we can start to see impacts like actual flooding as we had in 2017.”
The spring floods of 2017 eroded significant parts of the shoreline and resulted in a three-month closure of Centreville, an amusement park on Centre Island.
Lake levels rose to an average of 75.58 metres, the highest point recorded being 75.93.
Currently, Lake Ontario is sitting just short of that, at 75.5.
The TRCA says wind gusts of up to 60 km/h on Wednesday could bring off-shore waves higher than two metres, increasing the chance of flooding or ponding. Environment Canada is calling for showers Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Things aren’t expected to dry up until Saturday morning.
Rajabali said the lake is still “weeks away from peak level,” but that the water will likely rise gradually.
“We have lake levels combined with waves, as will be the case tomorrow (Wednesday) because those waves can also increase the kind of erosion that we might have as well as the ponding that we see along beaches,” Rajabali said.
“Now with the elevated lake levels, they are going to continue to rise over the next few weeks, but we won’t really see what the peak lake level is until usually the end of May or early June.”
The TRCA it has been working with the city to ensure those living on Toronto Islands don’t get blindsided.
City spokesperson Brad Ross said efforts are underway to “mitigate a repeat of 2017.”
“While the lake is at 2017 levels, a number of steps were taken after that flood to prevent recurrence. Pumps in berms and pits suck water in, then pump it out as it crests,” Ross tweeted on Wednesday, referring to Ward’s Island, where there are a number of homes and businesses.
He said ferry docks have also been rebuilt since then, which allows ferry service to continue today. Sandbags have been placed along the eastern part of Ward’s Island and while there are no plans to add more today, Ross said crews are monitoring the situation closely and will add as needed.
“The island is open and staff anticipate that won’t change,” he said. “High winds today mean high waves, so shorelines across the city will see erosion. Please be careful if near the lake.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory echoed that notion of preparedness. He said the city will be “incredibly vigilant” over the next few days as rain stays in the forecast.
"Even in the last week or so as the water levels started to rise, our staff have been over there putting pumps in. So we had more notice this time of the possibility (of flooding), but that doesn’t mean we can stop flooding any more than they can stop it anywhere else,” he said.
“Hopefully things are better than the forecast suggests, but we’re watching it hour by hour and we’re making all the preparations that I mentioned – the installation in advance of pumps and different things that are meant to protect the island and protect the businesses and residences and the park, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Residents on the island say they’re concerned, but have learned from the past.
“We have an emergency preparedness committee that sent out a notice a few hours ago saying it was a 50/50 chance that water would come over and flood certain parts of the island,” one resident told CTV News Toronto.
The warning is expected to remain in effect until May 8.
Residents and visitors to the island are being urged to check the city’s website to see if any trails or beaches have been closed due to flooding or erosion.
