By Ray Hernandez Oswego, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Waters continue to rise on Lake Ontario, forcing the city of Oswego to order an emergency closing of Wright’s Landing. This means that boaters must move their boats out of the harbor as soon as possible.
Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow said in a tweet that the city did everything they could to avoid closing the marina but hopes to reopen as soon as the water levels go down. The water levels are expected to rise until the middle of next month, which may sound like bad news, but Oswego Public Works Water Front Supervisor Chantelle Manwaring is hopeful that the levels will drop and they can reopen soon.
“We’re going to watch the weather.” she said. “Fingers crossed we’ll be able to have our slips go on sale June 15 for Harborfest like projected, if not we’ll have to push it back and roll with the punches.”
Manwaring also said that the city understands that this has all come suddenly, so they will not enforce a strict deadline for when boats need to be out of the harbor, but sooner is still better.
“There’s not anywhere to go,” she said. “A lot of the marinas are at max capacity so there’s nowhere for them to go in their surrounding areas.”
As of now, the harbor is in bad shape, with makeshift docks having to be built because the real ones are completely submerged. This is just so people can get to their boats to move them.
While Wright’s Landing hardly looked like itself Friday, city officials are confident they can clean things up before the Fourth of July weekend and Harborfest (July 25), both of which are vital to the cities economy.
