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Flooded Lake Ontario Not Stopping Locals From Boating Flooded lakes won't stop residents of Oswego County from hitting the water

Mexico Point Boat Launch remains open despite rise in water levels

By Brandon Williams

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© 2019 Brandon Williams

Kelly Morrissette – Park Ranger at Mexico Point: Well our intent is to try and keep this facility open. And what we’ve done is we put up some barricades, we marked with some orange buoys to mark out some of the safety features, so that it’s not going to be so hazardous for the people.

Reporter: Morrissette says the park is doing renovation on its dock, so people still have access to the water..

Morrissette: “Currently we have guys that are working on making the wooden ramp that we have extended our floating ramp with. They’re going to be raising that up higher, so that people have access to the floating ramp. We should have that in place by tomorrow.

Reporter: She says the warnings sign and the markers in the water are to ensure the safety of people visiting the park.

Morrissette: We want to try and direct the boat launchers closer to the floating dock that sidewalk area and keep people off of the sidewalks that going around here because it’s a pretty good drop off. At the end, it’s probably about a 16 to 20 feet drop off. So, if you don’t see that that’s where the end of the dock is, they could end up falling off that sidewalk area.

 MEXICO, N.Y.  — With Lake Ontario water levels continuing to rise, several counties in Central New York are telling residents to take safety precautions in preparation for this year potentially breaking the record set in 2017.

Municipalities all over Central New York are passing out sandbags to local residents. One area where this is happening is in Oswego County. In Mexico, at the Mexico Point Boat Launch, there is a dock that is halfway under water. You would think, this means no boats can go out, right? That is not the case.

Kelly Morrissette, the park manager at nearby Selkirk Shores State Park, said that residents in the area have told her it’s a good time for fishing. She doesn’t want to let them down, so the park has found a way to stay open.

“Currently we have guys that are working on making the wooden ramp that we have extended our floating ramp with,” said Morrissette. “They’re going to be raising that up higher, so that people have access to the floating ramp. We should have that in place by tomorrow.”

Another big concern for the park is safety concerns. Morrissette said they have placed signs and other indicators around the park to keep people safe.

“Well our intent is to try and keep this facility open,” said  Morrissette. “And what we’ve done is we put up some barricades, we marked with some orange buoys to mark out some of the safety features, so that it’s not going to be so hazardous for the people.”

She said though the park is taking these safety measures, there are no risk of any life threatening situations at Mexico Point, as long as visitors follow the warnings signs posted around the park.

“Nothing that we have is life threatening or will cause substantial damage at this time,” said Morrissette. “One the water is receded and we get a chance to physically get out there and look and see if we have any kind of erosion. Right now it does tends to be safe, if people adhere to what we have as far as barricades and things like that.”

With the threat of rising water levels looming, the residents of Mexico, won’t let the possibility of flooding keep them out the water.

 

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