With lake levels exceeding flood stage early this week, and more rain predicted to be on the way, Rainy Lake resort owners are worried that the inconvenience of submerged docks could become a real problem as levels creep up over the shoreline.
According to the AbitibiBowater hotline, the elevation of Rainy Lake rose another .87 inches on Monday and is now 12.6 inches above the upper International Joint Commission rule curve. All spillway gates are open. Namakan levels showed a rise of .08 inches, putting the lake at 9.2 inches above the upper IJC rule curve. All gates are open at the Kettle Falls dam.
Kevin Donofrio, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, said to expect an inch or less of rain in the International Falls area, mostly this evening and Thursday.
The rain will be the result of a low pressure movement from the Pacific Northwest with the heaviest rain moving southeast from Brainerd to Duluth and into Wisconsin. Donofrio said that current models show a half inch could fall in the Borderland area. Another model predicts as much as one to two inches before the skies clear.
“We are going to have to watch this slow moving system,” said Donofrio. “If it sticks around longer, we could get more rain than that.”
Cheryl Mickow, manager of Woody’s Rainy Lake Resort, said weights have been placed on the resort’s dock, which is two to three inches under water. She expects to see weights on the Ranier dock soon and noticed that the City Beach dock went under water a few days ago.
“So far, it is not a problem but people need to wear water proof boots to get to our rental (boats),” said Mickow.
With more rain predicted over the next week, Mickow is concerned as customers with boats are pulling them out of the water and onto trailers each night because there is no place to tie them up.
“They are floating right over the dock,” she said.
Stuart Milette, owner, Sha~Sha Resort, said the situation is not that serious yet, because he has mostly floating or piling docks. Still, he has already been placing some support barrels and expects trouble if the rain continues and the water levels rise another six to 12 inches.
“It’s not bad yet, but looks like it could be,” said Milette. “So far so good, but I think it’s going up out there.”

Find out which gates are open along with daily flow changes on a recorded line by calling 1-800-509-5253. Other data and reports are online at www.rivergages.com.