Flood fight could wade into June

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This article was published 20/05/2022 (1386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEDOSA — Minnedosa’s flood fight could rage on for a handful of weeks yet, the minister of transportation and infrastructure surmised Thursday.

“We’re looking at going into June,” Doyle Piwniuk said during a flood tour in Minnedosa Thursday. “Hopefully, we can get some good weather finally and get these water levels down.”

Piwniuk was accompanied by Premier Heather Stefanson, who visited the community for the first time since threatening water levels forced residents to fortify against floods.

The premier toured the Minnedosa dam and met with volunteers, who continued to stack sandbags along the banks of the Little Saskatchewan River and around vulnerable homes, as an unneeded helping of rain persisted throughout the day.

“It’s a very serious situation,” Stefanson said, witnessing the reeling community firsthand. “We know there’s more rain coming this way and we’re here to support the community in any way we can.”

Upwards of 90 millimetres of rain is expected to fall across southern Manitoba this week, according to the province’s hydrologic forecast centre.

Rain is the province’s top concern, Piwniuk said. “[Weather systems] are unpredictable. We’re monitoring how much more rain we’re going to get, especially in the Parkland area.”

To prepare for more water and protect the Minnedosa dam, two banks of logs were removed from the structure Thursday morning.

This comes one day after a bank was removed.

“We believe the structure is really good,” said Piwniuk. “This is all about managing water flow.”

The municipality and province discussed taking out another bank of logs Thursday afternoon but were still undecided by the Sun’s press deadline.

Perpetually saturated grounds have caused volunteers to double back on some areas that have already been reinforced, said Jim Doppler, chief administrative officer for the Town of Minnedosa.

“Our main effort today is reinforcing some of the dikes, monitoring river levels, and deciding if we need to start evacuating more people.”

Ten homes have been evacuated to date, while roughly 20 more are in immediate danger of flooding, Doppler estimated.

He couldn’t offer much new information on the situation, but reiterated the need for more volunteers.

The town sees upwards of 200 people making and setting sandbags at any given time. Those efforts typically go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m..

Volunteer Terry Barclay has been making sandbags for five hours each day over the past week.

“I’m so tired,” she said, rubbing her forehead while the rain stained her pink hat.

Barclay, born and raised in Minnedosa, is retired, and fears the water approaching her home.

She and her husband are fortunate to only need a sump pump in their yard, but are a mere 100 metres from the bloated river.

The Minnedosa Fire Department hasn’t told her to evacuate yet, but she’s holding her breath.

The potential for a mass of Minnedosa residents to evacuate has been made difficult by concurrent floods across the province.

Hotels in Brandon, Winnipeg, Selkirk, Gimli and Portage la Prairie are brimmed with evacuees from Peguis First Nation, who enter a fourth week since being displaced from their homes.

Stefanson couldn’t offer specifics but appeared confident about the province finding space in nearby municipalities for Minnedosa evacuees.

“As Manitobans, we’re very fortunate to have those surrounding communities that will help out,” she said. “We’ll reach out to everyone to be a part of the solution.”

While many residents are still waiting for their insurance claims from the flood in 2020, Piwniuk assured the provincial and federal governments were working on a plan for disaster and financial assistance.

» jfrey-sam@brandonsun.com