Chris B.
Well-known member
This is a virtually identical post I made on several other popular forums earlier today. I'm posting this info here as well because I know some of you, like me, will start to venture down there in the coming weeks and is geared to those of you who are familiar with the layout there.
I drove down to the Conowingo Dam in Maryland this morning primarily to see if the recent cold front brought in any eagles, although it is a bit early in the season, and to get a first-hand look at the damage that I had read about and seen on recent news reports.
The flooding rains of Tropical Storms Irene and then Lee made a huge mess of the place. First of all, the parking lot is 3/4 closed and they just, in fact, opened the area by the boat-ramp and the parking lot near the Susquehanna Park trail last weekend! When Exelon was forced to open up the 43 gates (out of 52) to alleviate the pressure on the dam, the water came up about 2-3 feet in the parking lot, and the force of the water washed away a lot of the boat-ramp, a lot of the boulders on the shoreline from the fisherman's pier on southward, as well as most of the chain link fencing. That little wooden platform that photographers could go out on (just before the new fisherman's walkway) was completely washed away! I had a long conversation with several Exelon employees and they said that the company is working as fast they can to get the lot ready for the peak fall season but it may be 3-4 weeks before the shoreline area is rebuilt. There are some huge trees which were deposited on the near island by the flooding, as also some down at the base of the dam. Exelon is periodically opening some gates to flush the upper lake of the mud and debris.
There were some eagles but I suspect they are the resident population. There were a good number of cormorants and great blue herons.
Chris
I drove down to the Conowingo Dam in Maryland this morning primarily to see if the recent cold front brought in any eagles, although it is a bit early in the season, and to get a first-hand look at the damage that I had read about and seen on recent news reports.
The flooding rains of Tropical Storms Irene and then Lee made a huge mess of the place. First of all, the parking lot is 3/4 closed and they just, in fact, opened the area by the boat-ramp and the parking lot near the Susquehanna Park trail last weekend! When Exelon was forced to open up the 43 gates (out of 52) to alleviate the pressure on the dam, the water came up about 2-3 feet in the parking lot, and the force of the water washed away a lot of the boat-ramp, a lot of the boulders on the shoreline from the fisherman's pier on southward, as well as most of the chain link fencing. That little wooden platform that photographers could go out on (just before the new fisherman's walkway) was completely washed away! I had a long conversation with several Exelon employees and they said that the company is working as fast they can to get the lot ready for the peak fall season but it may be 3-4 weeks before the shoreline area is rebuilt. There are some huge trees which were deposited on the near island by the flooding, as also some down at the base of the dam. Exelon is periodically opening some gates to flush the upper lake of the mud and debris.
There were some eagles but I suspect they are the resident population. There were a good number of cormorants and great blue herons.
Chris
