City preparing for possible dike plug

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This article was published 25/03/2022 (1285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In anticipation of potential flooding this year, Grand Valley Road residents may see the temporary return of a controversial piece of infrastructure.

On Thursday, the City of Brandon posted a tender on its website looking for a contractor to be on standby in case a dike plug needs to be installed on Grand Valley Road due to flooding along the Assiniboine River.

Residents may recall that in the summer of 2020, Westman was hit by massive rainfalls in late June and early July.

After some pieces of infrastructure failed, like the dam in Rapid City, and others in places like Rivers were at risk of failing, Brandon decided to bolster its dike system by installing a large earthen wall parallel to 18th Street North, blocking off Grand Valley Road to provide extra protection.

The dike was installed over July 1 and 2, 2020, by Tri-Wave Construction.

Ultimately, there was no flooding along the Assiniboine River in Brandon, with the water level reaching 1,174.5 feet above sea level compared to the city’s dike system at 1,186 feet above sea level.

However, the dam in Rivers remained in jeopardy for several months, and the city kept the dike plug in place under advice from Manitoba Infrastructure.

This meant anyone living on Grand Valley or who had business along the road were forced to take a detour to the western entrance several kilometres away off of the Trans-Canada Highway, irritating many travellers.

“They’re frustrated,” RM of Cornwallis Coun. Sam Hofer said at the time. “People of Grand Valley, Cornwallis residents, almost 100 per cent of them come down on Grand Valley Road and go to Brandon that way.”

The dike plug remained in place until Sept. 23, when it was completely cleared after a week’s worth of work. The city paid $40,203.11 for the project.

In the new tender document, the city wants a contractor on standby to both install a dike plug this year should it be needed and then remove it once any risk has passed. If no dike plug is needed, the document states that no payment will be issued to the winning bidder.

Should a dike plug need to be installed, the city requires that the winning bidder start work within 24 hours of being ordered by a city engineer and be completed within 30 hours. The contractor will have 48 hours to take down the dike after its removal is ordered.

With both the installation and the clearing, it appears the work will be completed in a shorter overall timeframe than in 2020.

A dike plug may end up being necessary, according to the province’s most recent flood outlook report released last week.

“There is high risk of moderate flooding in the Assiniboine River and its tributaries including the Souris River basin,” due to soil moisture being below average when the ground froze and higher than normal winter precipitation in some areas of the province, the report said.

However, Brandon’s emergency director Tobin Praznik told the Sun on Thursday the province is holding a briefing today, when it’s expected the flood forecast will be downgraded.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the city will rescind the tender, but it could mean the likelihood of needing the dike plug is diminished.

The city doesn’t have a contractor on standby every year to install a dike plug, only when there is enough risk of flooding to warrant being cautious, Praznik said.

In the case of 2020, there was no contractor on standby because the flooding wasn’t caused by spring melt and runoff, but unexpected amounts of rain.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

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