More than seven inches of rain have fallen from Sunday night through Monday in the Iowa Great Lakes area, causing lake levels to get near records. Dickinson County Emergency Management will implement a five mile-an-hour rule for all watercraft starting today (Tuesday) at 4 p-m. Captain Greg Harson of the D-N-R Law Enforcement Bureau says they hope to reduce the wake impact against the shoreline.

Harson says the change from drought to excess rain has already impacted boaters as docks are underwater.

The record flooding levels happened back in 2018. Dickinson County Emergency Management reports Big Spirit Lake and East and West Okoboji are about a half foot away from that level as of this morning (Tuesday).

(By Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio via Radio Iowa)