Why Minden Floods

Ask anyone who lives in Minden and they'll likely say the same thing; the Gull River floods out their town nearly every Spring. It did this year, just as it did in 2013, 2017, and 2019, damaging both roads and properties. It's frustrating to many local residents, who were forced to fill and install hundreds of sandbags to keep the water from causing further losses.Some of those residents took to social media during the crisis to complain about the Trent Severn Waterway not doing enough to safeguard communities like Minden from flooding. They asked why there wasn't another dam located nearby to prevent the water from rising, but few can actually say they understand how water management works in the region.CanoeFM sat down with Karen Feeley of the TSW recently to understand how it manages water flows in our region. She said many factors come into play and their responsibility is to mitigate flooding when a perfect storm like the one that came this past April comes into play.Feeley said people need to understand that what happens upstream can have consequences to those living downstream.