ROUND LAKE – There have been rises in water levels before, but the flood that happened on August 21 was the worst that Mike Radford has seen in his 15 years on the lake.
Radford and his wife, Sharon, have a cottage on John Street in Round Lake.
The water washed out part of Round Lake Road, County Road 58, and swept across yards and into houses on its way to the lake. Some reported the water being as deep as six feet in places.
“This was exciting because it didn’t come into the cottage,” Sharon said.
But the flood did deposit a black, mucky, smelly silt.
Mike said that they had occasionally had an increased flow of water along the culverts, but nothing on this scale.
“The highway couldn’t handle it, John Street couldn’t handle it. It can handle the normal spring run off, but when a beaver dam lets go, it can’t handle it,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve had this kind of problem.”
Their water well was tested clean as was a neighbour’s.
Apart from removing the silt from their property, cleaning their cars and replacing the sand that was washed away, the Radfords were lucky.
The homes of Lawrence Sernoskie and Terry Morgan, both on John Street, and Ken Sernoskie whose house is on Round Lake Road suffered extensive damage.
“It was like Niagara Falls, the water coming off the road,” Lawrence said.
Get your September 14, 2016 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full story.