Maple Grove Hutterite Colony battles to save barn
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/04/2011 (5466 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
RM OF CAMERON — Water flooding flat land along the Souris River came within a metre of a cow barn at the Maple Grove Hutterite Colony on Tuesday.
As colony members scrambled into action, with rolls of plastic and piles of sand brought in by a small front-end loader, water had already forced cows to higher ground.
"The river is going to rise, but how much? I don’t know," said Joe Waldner, secretary of the colony located northwest of Lauder, which is 101 kilometres southwest of Brandon. "For it to affect our barns, it would have to come up another three feet. The cows just go where it’s dry and if we have to put them in another field, we can do that."
On Monday, the colony was the first to use the provincial sandbag machine that was based in Brandon and filled 2,000 bags before running out of supplies. Another 10,000 bags arrived Tuesday morning and were ready to be filled in case neighbours needed them.
For now, the colony is able to bring in drier sand from across a bridge at Highway 254, though water levels are close to inundating the gravel road.
"If that happens, our next closest bridge is 12 miles away in Hartney," Waldner said. "The flood isn’t affecting us right now," Waldner said. "It’s holding us up from our work."
It was difficult for the colony to prepare for a flood of record, when it didn’t exist in 1976.
The colony’s garden plots were also under water, affecting much of the raspberry hedges and strawberry plants. Off in the distance, sandbags were delivered to a well house that was surrounded by water for hundreds of metres in every direction.
The colony’s well is only accessible by boat. While protected by a sandbag dike, seepage has forced the colony to run three pumps to clear out incoming flood water. Plans are now in place to wrap the building in tar and plastic sheeting to provide a water-proof seal.
"The well sticks out two feet from the ground inside the building and all of the electrical is above in the ceiling," one colony member said. "If we can keep the water out of the building, we’ll be fine."
The projected crest of the Souris at Hartney is between 423.67 metres above sea level and 424.07 metres, three to four metres above flood stage. A second, prolonged crest at Melita is expected within seven days.
At the Hartney Golf Course, the club house and storage sheds along with several holes are inundated.