VIDEO: High hopes for super sandbags

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This article was published 22/03/2011 (5545 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An anticipated snowstorm did little to concern Premier Greg Selinger and Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst as they await Wednesday’s flood projections for the Assiniboine and Souris rivers.

"We’ve always said in our early flood preparations that a lot would depend on spring conditions," Selinger said Monday while standing with Decter Hirst and Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell in front of a giant sandbag dike along 18th Street.

"The rapidity of how this ice melts and precipitation are factors, and if you remember in the 1997 flood, one of the major factors that drove it to that level was a very heavy snowfall in April. It’s all about being prepared because you can’t do anything about Mother Nature."

Neither Selinger nor Decter Hirst would predict on Monday whether the snowstorm would push the flood projections over the 1-in-100-year level.

"We all hope the melt continues to be slow … but the reality is there’s a lot of soil saturation and there’s a lot of moisture coming," Selinger said.

However, to guard against a 1995-level flood that threatened the intersection of 18th Street and Grand Valley Road/Kirkcaldy Drive, the province has offered 6,100 super sandbags to the Westman region.

Some of them have already been deployed along 18th Street north of the Assiniboine River.

"Anyone that’s familiar with Brandon will know this is one of the critical spots in any flood here, and one of the challenges is keeping Grand Valley Road open," Decter Hirst said. "Having these super sandbags here will allow us to keep 18th Street open."

An increase in development since 1995 has forced city and provincial officials to increase its efforts on 18th Street in 2011.

"In 1976, this actually was under water and the only way into Brandon from the Trans-Canada Highway was through Kemnay," Caldwell said. "This protects us to two feet above the 1976 level."

Each super sandbag represents 100 conventional sandbags and have been protected with plastic to form a water-tight barrier against the anticipated flood of the Assiniboine River. While this dike does not cut off access to Grand Valley Road, the two dikes on either side of the east-west thoroughfare can be joined at 18th Street if flood waters threaten the key intersection or the Corral Centre.

Selinger noted having that dike built in advance of the flood would aid the confidence of Brandonites in their flood protection strategy.

"Will there be issues? It’s still difficult to know, but these preparations will go a long way," Selinger said. "We’re as ready as we can be. There’s still unknown factors out there."