STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

Water level dropping on Bear Creek

May 1, 2018 | 12:16 PM

UPDATE (4:09 p.m.) Crews continue to assess the area in Muskoseepi Park that was impacted by an influx of water over the weekend. The park will remain closed today (Tuesday) with crews to reassess tomorrow (Wednesday). Residents are asked to keep off of trails until further notice.

There are plans to open a portion of Muskoseepi Park this afternoon after days of being closed due to flash flooding concerns.

Deputy Director for infrastructure and Protective Services Arlen Miller says crews will be out assessing the areas near the water today. 

“The good news is that the water has dropped, significantly now. We are planning to reassess it this afternoon and potentially open the part that has been closed since Saturday night,” said Miller Tuesday morning. 

Once looked at, he says the plan includes opening the area north of 100 Avenue where the playground and Ernie Radbourne Pavilion are located. 

“We do have a number of pedestrian bridges and banks that probably have seen erosion with the water flow. We would like to assess that before we open the complete park to the public.”

Miller says there was no damage to any of the buildings near the water.

“We did take some mitigation action Saturday night and placed some sandbags on the low points, which was successful. The water never did quite reach those sandbags, but it was a proactive action.”

The city has been monitoring the spillway from the reservoir into the creek and will continue to change the flow as needed.