With 600 mm or 2 feet of rain falling in the past 10 days, local lakes and streams are rising fast.
Sproat Lake residents fear their properties are about to flood again, and are asking the regional district for help.
Bob Cole says the removal of one plate from the weir represents an additional 8 million gallons of water leaving the lake every day.
He said they also need the sweep cleaned of old docks, boomsticks and debris to assist with drainage, but access and liabilities has become a bureaucratic log jam.
Regional District directors voted to hire an excavator to clean the sweep immediately, and work with DFO and Island Timberlands on access and liability issues.
Terri St. Jacques, who only recently was able to move back into her home after renovations required from last years floods, said rising water levels are also a health hazard as septic fields are close to being under water.
She also worries that if the sweep isn’t cleaned it could break, endangering people and properties along the Somass River.