MT. MORRIS, N.Y. — Genesee River water levels are back to normal after heavy rainfall this week caused levels to rise higher than normal across the region. News10NBC’s Garrett Chan visited the Mount Morris Dam to see how it helped protect parts of the area.
“We have almost an 86-foot deep lake stored behind the dam that’s just from this one singular river. And if we weren’t holding it back, that would have been downstream, causing damages,” Steve Winslow, the Mount Morris Dam Manager from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District said.
Built from 1948 to 1952, the dam’s job is to manage any excess water that poses a flood risk for communities along the Genesee River, including Rochester. The dam is the largest concrete gravity dam east of the Mississippi River, standing 250 feet tall and spanning 1,028 feet.
When the Genesee River levels started to come up Tuesday evening, it was time to close the dam.
“We’re sending folks down here to actually move this giant, hydraulically operated, vertical lift gates to close off passageways that bring the water from the upstream and downstream side,” Winslow said.
The dam’s gates were reopened Thursday night once downstream areas saw water levels recede back to normal. But the dam doesn’t completely eliminate flood risks, and nearby communities are typically most at risk.
“We can’t really have any effect on those tributaries flooding where our focus or our capability is really restricted to the Genesee River itself,” Winslow said.
Winslow adds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works with the National Weather Service to anticipate any weather that could cause major flooding. Ensuring the dam is working to mitigate water levels is a day-to-day operation.
“If you live anywhere near the river, you know, we’re here to help protect you and protect downstream areas from that catastrophic flooding that would have been happening if we passed this Finger Lakes worth of storage downstream,” Winslow said.
The Mount Morris Dam is about 60 miles upstream from Rochester. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says over the last 70 years, the dam has provided an estimated $4.6 billion in flood protection to downstream areas, including Rochester.
Inside Mount Morris Dam: How it protected Genesee River communities from rising water levels WHEC.com.
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