Flood threat looms

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This article was published 19/06/2010 (5838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rising flood waters will likely destroy a large swath of seeded farmland in the Assiniboine River valley over the next several days and flood low-lying areas in Brandon, Manitoba’s senior river forecaster says.

The province issued a flood warning on Friday for much of western Manitoba after a massive weather system stormed through the region on Thursday, dumping large amounts of rainfall on already-saturated farmland and rural communities.

As a result, the Assiniboine River valley will be flooded from the Shellmouth Dam to the city of Brandon, with the river cresting by early July, says Manitoba Water Stewardship’s Alf Warkentin.

"The entire valley will get flooded all the way to Brandon," Warkentin told media during a conference call late Friday afternoon. "That means the valley that is seeded to crops will get flooded … But the crest is still quite a ways away."

Run-off water in the valley will swell the Assiniboine River to 1173 feet in Brandon by July 5, Warkentin predicted — five feet higher than its current level — which will likely cause trouble for low-lying areas such as Turtle Crossing.

"That puts you above a foot above flood stage."

Killarney, Boissevain and the areas north of Carberry and north of Neepawa were hit particularly hard by Thursday’s storm system.

In Killarney, more than 74 mm fell between 8 a.m. and midnight Thursday, prompting town council to declare the community a disaster area.

"There’s a lot of people mopping up their basements right now," Killarney-Turtle Mountain Mayor Rick Pauls told the Sun. "I drove around with our public works foreman (Thursday) night and … we decided to call the emergency meeting and to be a bit proactive on this. Maybe it will help our residents get the help they need from the province."

In downtown Killarney, water covered the sidewalks and at least two business owners found water had rolled in the front door.

"The joke in town is that everyone has lakefront property (Friday) morning," Pauls said.

Meanwhile, Neepawa residents were also showered with more than 71 mm, while nearly 80 mm fell north of the community, near Eden.

Minnedosa CAO Ken Jenkins says the community is keeping a close eye on the swelling Little Saskatchewan River.

"The river is our unknown right now," Jenkins said. "(Flooding) will hinge on what’s going to happen over the next two to five days … We’re cautiously optimistic we’ll be able to handle it, but that can all change in just a few minutes if we get another downpour."

After dealing with flash-flood-like conditions in 2005, Deloraine was well-prepared for anything that came its way, municipal employee Breigh Crepeele told the Sun.

"In 2005, the entire west end of town was flooded out, but this year, we’re keeping up with it so far," Crepeele said. "Public works was monitoring all of the high spots, and have all of the pumps going everywhere … no streets were flooded."

The province’s flood warning covers Dauphin and Swan River, as well as the Pembina Valley and the Interlake.

As a result of the heavy rains, excessive water run-off has flooded fields, and washed out a number of roads and bridges in Westman.

The weather warning could be in effect for the next few days and Warkentin warned of another weather system emerging in the northern United States, which could arrive in Manitoba by Monday or Tuesday.

"Any additional rain would be very unwelcome," Warkentin said. "Very bad news."

» With files from Matt Goerzen