The good news is...

As I drove to Kanata directly into the glistening sun early this morning for my appointment with a cosmetic surgeon I drove over the Carp River.  The water had flooded the banks to an Olympic degree. What in the summer is nothing but a meandering creek was today - at the start of springtime - a shallow lake spread over the entire landscape, causing the bony trees to look awkward in their nautical environment. I was instinctively moved to stop alongside the road to take a photograph but my sense of duty prevailed instead so I kept driving.  Later this evening however - when the setting sun was facing the water falls in Town - I recovered my photographic yearning sufficiently to pick up from my computer, temporarily abandon my traditional late afternoon coffee and drive to the park at the bottom of Bay Hill to take a few snaps.

Aside from the privilege of picturesque water falls in the centre of Town we have the added advantage of Metcalfe Park at the bottom of Bay Hill, the location of the Brian J. Gallagher Generating Station. The roaring water was testimony to the hemorrhaging money which the hydro plant is no doubt producing. The late Desmond Houston - the former first President of the Board of Directors of Mississippi River Power Corporation - must be laughing in his grave!  His erstwhile friend - and now the second President of the Corporation - Paul Virgin must be gloating as well, along with Scott Newton, the General Manager of the Corporation. When I think back upon the characters who have motivated and sustained the astronomic success of Almonte's local hydro - including not only Doc Metcalfe (the person responsible for the Town's first hydro project) but also Brian Gallagher, the long-standing General Manager of the Public Utilities Commission whence the current Corporation derives, it is a recollection glittering with achievement, endurance and no small measure of historical entertainment.

Mississippi River Power Corporation

River Conditions Forecast / Flooding Risk: The current snowpack throughout much of the Ottawa River basin remains at twice its normal depth for this time of the year. Meteorological forecasts indicate that two low pressure systems will be combining to produce significant rainfall (30 to 55 mm) throughout the Ottawa River watershed beginning on Thursday. Combined with spring runoff from the central and southern portions of the watershed, this precipitation is expected to cause a rapid and sustained increase in water levels and flows on the main stem of the Ottawa River.