First Street North closed as water flows over

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This article was published 04/07/2014 (4141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rising Assiniboine River water is up over the pavement of First Street North, and the street has been closed in both directions between Pacific Avenue and Kirkcaldy Drive.

Workers have put up signs and sawhorses to stop traffic from heading south on First Street at Kirkcaldy, or from heading north over the First Street Bridge. Water is flowing freely over both the northbound and southbound lanes between Dinsdale Park and the Optimist Soccer Park.

Meanwhile, the city has also closed one lane of the northbound span of the Thompson Bridge over the Asisniboine on 18th Street. That means all traffic in Brandon trying to cross the river has only a single lane anywhere in the city to do it.

However, the date that the Assiniboine River will crest in Brandon has been revised. The province said yesterday that it estimated the river will peak in Brandon late this weekend, around July 6–7, instead of late next week, around July 11, as originally estimated.

Although that gives flood crews less time to prepare, the height of the crest has also been revised, slightly downward. In yesterday’s estimate, the province said that the heigh of the crest should be between 1,181.2 and 1,182.1 feet above sea level when it arrives. That’s about a foot lower than the 2011 level of 1,182.9 feet.

Dikes have been built to at least two feet higher than the 2011 levels, so aside from First Street, Brandon is well-protected, flood fighters say.