Reeve slams flood review’s focus

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/02/2012 (5227 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While news of a provincial review of the 2011 flood was welcomed by Westman residents, news that Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin areas were getting a special review committee did not generate the same enthusiasm.

“This is an example of Manitobans being treated differently according to where they live in the province,” RM of Sifton Reeve Rick Plaisier said. “I am not debating that Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin have problems. So do we, and we should be getting equal treatment. We have big problems, and they should be dealt with rightfully and properly.”

Plaisier, the chairman of the Southwest Flood Strategy Committee, has been lobbying the government on behalf of 40 municipalities in the Assiniboine River and Souris River watersheds, several of which are still feeling effects of flooding and high water tables.

“Our biggest issue is compensation for our producers for holding water back,” Plaisier said. “There has been no mention of that whatsoever.”

Transportation has been another issue for Manitoba’s municipalities.  A government spokesman said 800 municipal roads across Manitoba were impacted by the 2011 flood, with $25 million spent on repairs to those roads so far.

In all, $105 million has been committed by the province to fix the problem. Plaisier said that wasn’t enough to combat the increased usage of those roads because of washouts elsewhere.

“We had direct flood damage, but now we are finding secondary flood damage in a sense of municipal roads being overused because of bridges being close,” Plaisier said.

“They weren’t built for this kind of use and they require higher maintenance. We are asking for compensation for RMs to address roads becoming primary routes because other roads haven’t been addressed, or there’s still water over the roads. We have water over roads from the RM of Sifton to the RM of Cameron, left and right.”

Residents have also had troubles with Manitoba Emergency Measures settling their disaster financial assistance claims.

“It’s completely intolerable how they are not responding or asking people to send in their paperwork for the third time, if you can imagine such inefficiency,” Plaisier said.

“Those are the things we need addressed because we still have people who aren’t in their homes. I’d say there’s 20 people still out of their homes from St. Lazare to the American border. I know we have three.

“It’s already February and people are dealing with claims they submitted last June. To me, some butt has to be kicked and there needs to be some accountability for that. There’s no reason for government officials to ask for receipts three times. Where’s the efficiency on their end to receive these documents? There should be consistency on how they are handling this.”

During a Monday visit to the new Brandon Workers Compensation Board office, Premier Greg Selinger said the 2011 flood review task force, whose members include Souris Mayor Darryl Jackson, will be looking at how the provincial flood infrastructure, such as the Shellmouth Reservoir Portage Diversion and Assiniboine River dikes held up, whether the rules of operation were followed.

“They did a tremendous job (in Souris) because we were concerned about their readiness and it turned out they were ready,” Selinger said. “We want to learn the lessons of every traumatic experience we’ve had with flooding and put in place the kinds of things we need to prevent these dislocations in the future. We have already started the one-in-300 dike project in the city of Brandon. …We had good communication early on, but some felt the communications could have been stronger on other issues. So we’ll look at that.”

One of the criticisms Selinger faced came after a recent bi-lateral meeting between Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple and their water management staffs, during which the two jurisdictions discussed how they can co-operate better in future flood fights in the Souris River basin.

Manitoba sent no representation because it wasn’t invited, Selinger said.

“It was a completely separate initiative from the government of North Dakota because they felt the water came from Saskatchewan into North Dakota,” Selinger said.

“I am in regular contact with the governor of North Dakota and we will be having another joint cabinet meeting with the government of Saskatchewan where flood management will be part of the discussions. I was well aware of that meeting, but they didn’t want to meet with us. We don’t flow water into North Dakota. North Dakota’s water flows into Manitoba, but some of the water they get comes from Saskatchewan.”

On a local level. Plaisier said the Southwest Flood Strategy Committee has been invited add their input at the next meeting of the International Souris River Basin Commission on Feb. 22 in Bismarck, N.D. Plaisier added he will co-operate with the Manitoba flood review commission as well.

“We’d meet with them, show them our problem areas, and would be totally involved.” Plaisier said. “Talk with the local people involved. We’re willing to help, but we need to be able to give information to their consultants so they can make recommendations and we don’t have to live through this again.”

While the Manitoba government has not yet released spring flood forecasts for 2012, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority predicted near or below spring runoff for most of the province, according to a Regina Leader-Post story on Monday.

An average amount of snowfall would mean Saskatchewan would not face major flooding issues. There are flood risks if there are three major snowstorms in February, March or April, but given the current snowfall, drought poses a greater risk.

“Part of the province I think welcomes an average or below average runoff especially down in the Souris Basin and in the Qu’Appelle (River),” the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority’s Dale Hjertaas told the Leader-Post.

Attempts to reach Manitoba Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton were not successful.

» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com