BARKER (WBEN) - Niagara and Orleans County emergency officials held a press conference Monday afternoon to prepare Lake Ontario shoreline residents about rising water levels.
"It's almost a daily, ongoing event," said Orleans County Director of Emergency Services Dale Banker. "We check water levels seven days a week."
And in the last seven days or so, the height has risen substantially.
While Schultz reiterated that there's not immediate need for concern, he noted that residents should be cognizant that levels are expected to rise this year, and they want to be prepared for the worst.
"At this point, everybody's predicting a little bit higher than last year, but we've been seeing some significant rains, like we have this past weekend, and other things going on with the lake," he said. "So, of course we're keeping our eye on it all the time - day and night."
One thing that Schultz says emergency services learned from the 2017 debacle was about the role that wind can play in flooding.
"If you talk to the National Weather Service and the Army Corps. of Engineers, they're predicting maybe 5-6 inches higher than last year, which keeps us well below flooding, but then again, you have to look at the weather patterns," he added. "Those north, northeast winds could create a lot of issues even with those levels."
The two said that if necessary, they could have state assistance on the shoreline within 24 hours if there were to be an emergency.
"We have been working with our partners locally, the county and the state level to start moving resources, probably within the next few weeks if we have to, if we hit those trigger points and the waters rise, to protect residents from flooding," said Schultz. "I do know my office has been fielding quite a few questions and concerns from our residents all along the lakeshore and the lower river because they're seeing the water levels going up, and they're remembering from 2017 the flooding that happened."