(Radio Iowa) – The emergency management coordinator for Dickinson County says they are keeping a close eye on high water levels on the Great Lakes. Michael Ehret says they may have to put a speed restriction on Big Spirit, and East and West Lake Okoboji lake.  “With the continued rain we’ve had over the last several weeks, the river levels and lake levels have come up significantly from where we started in the spring. Like a lot of the state, we went from drought to flood in a matter of a couple of weeks,” he says.

He says they can restrict boat speeds to five-miles-an-hour rule.  “That minimizes the wake that your vessel creates, which then, in turn, minimizes damage, you know, the wave action and damages to the shoreline,” Ehret says. Ehret says the wake in high water can also damage property, docks, and boat hoists.

The D-N-R restricts boaters from causing a wake 300 feet from the shore, but Ehret suggests they stay even farther away until lake levels start falling. He is thankful the current forecast calls for dry conditions for the next week to allow levels to stabilize. The haven’t had to put these type of boating restrictions into place in the Iowa Great Lakes Area due to flooding since 2018.