Flood Monitoring - What MNR Does

Protecting lives, property and resources from floods and other natural hazards is an important part of MNR’s work. To do that, we must be able to forecast when there is a risk of flooding and help limit the impact if a flood does happen. More than 4,000 sensors feed information from approximately 1,200 stations across the province.

The Surface Water Monitoring Centre in Peterborough uses high-tech equipment to monitor water levels on lakes, rivers and streams in Ontario.

Experts at the centre routinely review:

• detailed, current weather conditions
• weather satellites
• weather radar
• stream flow and levels
• soil moisture condition
• snowpack information
• ice break-up potential.

This provides reliable and timely information about the potential for flooding to occur.

• Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
• Emergency Management Ontario
• Understanding Natural Hazards
• Water Levels and Flows