Gov. Mark Dayton activated the Minnesota National Guard to assist with the flood relief efforts. About 100 members are expected to be here late Thursday or early Friday.
In addition, Rainy Lake is predicted to rise nearly 16 inches above today's level over the next seven days, according to Matt DeWolfe, executive director of Lake of the Woods Control Board.
Koochiching County Sheriff Brian Jespersen urges property owners to take necessary precautions to prepare for rising water levels.
DeWolfe told The Journal the estimate of the rising water was made using a hydrological model.
"It uses the current best precipitation forecast we have in combination with the hydrological mode to make the estimate of how fast the water will be flowing into Rainy Lake," he said.
And, DeWolfe stressed, it's an estimate "an inexact science" and "could be higher, could be lower. It's heavily dependent on rainfall that comes and there's a wide margin of error. But it give a general sense of the size of the increase. What' important is that the lake will continue to rise significantly over the next week."
DeWolfe and the Canadian member of the Water Levels Committee of the International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Board of Control met Wednesday with local member Lee Grim and International Joint Commissioner Rich Moy to tour flooding conditions from Rainy River, Ontario, to Rainy Lake.
Meanwhile, the results of a test at the Boise powerhouse Tuesday when two gates were closed for two hours to get data on how this would affect the level below the dam has not been analyzed, said DeWolfe. The information should allow a better decision on how to save the Boise powerhouse in the case of heavy rainfall on the river again before things decline.
Failure to act in that case could well cause the loss of those turbines and the long-term ability of the dam to pass water to get the lake down sooner.
