Experts don’t know when water levels at Lake Monroe will get back to normal. The reservoir is currently about 12.5 feet above normal level.
Emmett Holsapple, wildlife specialist and assistant property manager for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the levels have remained high due to constant rainfall across the state. The fact that water levels are high is not unusual, it’s the length of time they have remained high. The hot weather hasn’t helped lower the levels.
“We do see some surface evaporation on the lake,” he said. “We have such a large body of water that it will affect it. It just doesn't affect it enough to have super noticeable water changes.”
Holsapple said it’s hard to know when water levels will return to normal; it’s very weather dependent. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers controls when to release water from the reservoir into the White River. A primary consideration is how it will impact flood levels on the White River.
“If we get a couple months of drier weather, more bigger spaces in between rains, we can start dropping the lake at a greater rate. If it continues the way that it's been all spring and beginning of summer, it's going to be very drawn out,” he said.
The lake normally holds about 11,000 acres of water but now is around 13,000 to 14,000 acres of water, Holsapple said. That extra water has flooded country roads and beaches at the lake. The Paynetown and Fairfax beaches are closed, as well as the Pine Grove boat ramp and a few campsites.
Holsapple said some trees around the lake are dying from being submerged in water for so long. Marsh systems have also suffered damage. He hasn’t been able to do any levee repairs or crop management.
“Our tenant farmers won't be in the fields very much this year,” he said, “so we'll see a loss of crops on the property, which, of course, that's a food source for a lot of waterfowl and wildlife through the wintertime.”
Holsapple recommends boaters take caution when out on the lake, as flooding has brought in more debris from the woods.
