My pool opening?

Well the water's only about 44 degrees, but this winter we had covered the 20x40 IG pool (semi-affectionately reffered to by my father as the money pool, new pump and filter last year) with a solid cover (we think). We were fooled by the early thaw two weeks ago and began draining water off the top of the cover - set up a siphon and let it dribble out overnight. We readjusted the cover to get better drainage (and the long side was damaged, had fallen into the pool, ripped up some of the tabs which were tied to cinder blocks and well of the concrete out on the lawn) and temporarily put the cinderblock on the concrete deck to hold the cover down to drain a little more). I live next door but go over daily while dog dragging, and the next day not only was there 1.5 inches of snow everywhere, two blocks have fallen into the pool resting on the cover. I think he left the hose siphoning - and the cover has a leak, or the seam leaks, there's only aboout 18 inches of water in the shallow end - this is probably what brought the blocks in, weight of whatever fell out of the sky onto the cover, and nothing under it for 12 inches. I am planning to wade in tomorrow and walk over to the other side on the cover to pull out the blocks and check for liner damage (hoping they did not rip liner and cover).
I have some questions,
1.Should we put another foot of water in ASAP - or right after I get the blocks out, or are we safe waiting at least as long as I can inspect the liner- (easier for me and tootsies with less water)?
2.Should we pull off the cover or wait until we can open and run the pump?
3. If uncovering is OK, is there some way to keep the water as clean as it looks now at this low level without pump, like keep a submersible running for a while daily instead of the still-winterized filter/pump and balancing as needed (would that work?)?- I know if left uncovered and uncirculated we'll have a frogpond.

It's hard to keep myself an/or Dad from panicking and rushing headlong into "do something" mode- but that's how we got here... probably not wanting to swim until Memorial Day in Upstate NY. I'm really just looking for sounding board here, and way too curious.