Regulators push record amount of water out of Lake Ontario

Regulators are pushing a record amount of water out of Lake Ontario to avoid a repeat of last year's flooding.

The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board specifies outflows through dams on the river based on a plan agreed to by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The plan is intended to protect the environment while balancing the needs of communities along the lake shore and downstream to Montreal, as well as commercial shipping interests. Last spring, record rainfall pushed the lake to record high levels, causing widespread flooding that many residents and politicians blamed on the management plan.

The board says outflows from the lake in February were the highest in history, and that's expected to continue as water levels are forecast to remain above average into spring.