Resident worried new overpass increasing flood risk

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This article was published 19/10/2023 (1118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A homeowner on 16th Street North in Brandon says flooding has always been a concern since she bought the property, but it’s gotten much worse since construction on the new Daly Overpass began.

After Brandon was on the receiving end of a vicious thunderstorm in June that, according to an Environment Canada meteorologist, dropped as much as 100 millimetres of rain, Jean Halliday said the water got closer to her home than it ever had before.

More than 20 years ago, Halliday said the area that surrounds her property just to the east of Lady of the Lake was flatter. As lots were developed over time and built up with dirt, she said the water collected closer to her property, seeping into her basement, destroying appliances and damaging her shed during flooding events or large rainfalls. At one point, the city built a small berm along the western edge of the property as a barrier to some of the water and dug a sort of drainage trench on the north end, which extends into the property to the east.

However, when work on the new Daly Overpass started, the land was built up to handle supports for the new bridges, creating an even larger slope than before.

According to Halliday, water running down that slope – like it did in June – washes over the berm, floods the road and collects in pools in her yard and those of some neighbours.

“Because of all the dirt that they had to put there, now the water has nowhere to go,” she said. “It used to pool over there between 17th Street and the bridge … so it’s coming this way.”

After that storm, she said she has reached out to the City of Brandon multiple times to request assistance but has yet to hear back.

While she would be open to selling the property to someone interested in redeveloping it, she doesn’t want to sell it to another resident because they’d be in the same position she’s in now.

In a statement sent by email, Brandon’s general manager of development services Mark Allard said the city is aware that Halliday’s property is located in a low-lying area prone to flooding.

“Her claim that this has become worse since the construction of the Daly Overpass bridge is new and will need to be investigated by the city,” Allard said. “We will be reaching out to the homeowner and Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure as the owner of the bridge and construction contract.”

Halliday also reached out to Manitoba Infrastructure, who sent her an email saying that drainage improvements are included as part of the overpass construction.

In an email, a Manitoba Infrastructure spokesperson noted that Halliday’s property is outside the scope of the project area, but that work on the project has “not worsened drainage and (is) not expected to significantly improve drainage outside the project limits after completion.”

The spokesperson added that the project is still expected to be completed by summer 2024, with the bulk of the work finishing by the end of 2023.

For her part, Halliday said she hopes the city follows through and reaches out to her to find a solution. Otherwise, she said she worries she’ll be in a difficult situation come the spring melt next year.

“I’m hoping they can maybe do something with the drainage to help so that we don’t have water in our yard and across the streets,” she said. “I think it’s going to affect more than me. It’s going to affect a lot of people in the neighbourhood.”

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