Tempe Town Lake is expected to reopen later this week after last week’s storm caused flooding, forcing officials to close the lake to the public.

Because of a continuous flow of water from the Salt River, the downstream bladders were lowered completely to reduce water elevation about 11 feet to combat the flooding, said Nancy Ryan, Tempe Town Lake manager.

The lake is a man-made dam in a portion of the Salt River bed. The bladders are lowered to let water pass when the flow is moving at 30,000 cubic feet per second, she said.

The west dams were lowered at 6 a.m. on Friday until about 5 p.m. to let water pass through.

“It was performing as a river, not a lake,” Ryan said.

To keep the dams up with so much weight on them is dangerous, she said.

Olivia Girard, a design studies senior, lives in a condominium just north of the lake.

“I noticed the lake looked much lower than normal and wanted to check it out,” she said. “The second time I went over there, all four sections were about halfway inflated with water rushing out still.”

Because it seldom rains in Arizona, the overflowing dam attracted many Tempe residents, Girard said.

“Lots of people were coming to the Tempe Center for the Arts to check it out, lots of photographers as well,” she said.

Jeff Palmer, a December graduate in philosophy, went with a friend, Eric Moser, to check out the commotion.

“While we were there, they started inflating the dam back up to where they weren’t letting water in,” he said.

Palmer said he then started to hear splashing noises coming from the riverbed.

“We looked down and there were fish everywhere,” he said.

To get a better look, the two walked down past a “no trespassing” sign.

The strong current from the water caught fish and forced them out of the lake. Concerned onlookers were there to help the fish, he said.

A handful of children were crying because fish were dying, Palmer said.

“There was a large effort to save the fish,” he said. “About a dozen people, mostly children and their parents, were picking up the fish and putting them back in the water,” said Palmer. “Eric and I joined in.”

Ryan said the lake was restored by about 6 p.m. Friday.

The lake is still closed because of debris in the water and officials will notify the public when the lake is reopened later this week, said Ryan.

Reach the reporter at mmbarke1@asu.edu