Forecast raises flood fears

WINNIPEG — Warm temperatures and the threat of rainfall are raising concerns in Peguis First Nation.

Forecast highs of 19 C Wednesday and today, along with two to four millimetres of rain, could worsen conditions in the community about 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg, where nine residents have been moved to Selkirk.

“It exacerbates the situation that much more,” said Doug Thomas, the First Nation’s communications director. “It’s one of the contributing factors that causes the banks to overflow. It’s quite often not just the floods. It’s the floods plus the rain that make things overflow the banks.”

Thomas said Wednesday that the Fisher River could overflow as early as today, depending on rainfall and how quickly snow and ice melt.

“Considering the rain and the melt from the south, we’re seeing a lot of high water flow that still hasn’t come this way yet,” he said, noting some ice blockages remain intact. “Once those ice blockages start to open up, it will flow a lot more.”

So far, the gradual thaw has helped, and officials had been hoping for cooler nights to slow down the melting.

“The longer it takes, the better, but with the rain coming, it could make it a lot worse,” Thomas said.

Nine high-priority residents have been evacuated, another 27 have chosen to remain at home. That group includes people with complex medical needs, those requiring mobility aids or dialysis, children with significant health conditions and women who are at least 35 weeks pregnant. Health officials have allowed some residents to delay their departure.

If further evacuations are needed, residents will be moved to hotels in the Selkirk area. Winnipeg is an option if the number of evacuees grows.

The number of homes considered at risk has dropped to about 120 from 225, and those properties are now protected. However, roughly 100 homes remain condemned — some since flooding dating back to 2011 — with about 200 people still displaced from that event. Hundreds more remain displaced from floods in 2014, 2017 and 2022, the latter forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate and causing millions in damage.

To bolster defences, more than 800,000 sandbags and 23,000 super sandbags have been delivered, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said Wednesday.

She said hundreds of federal, provincial and municipal staff and volunteers have travelled to Peguis daily to help with mitigation efforts. Crews have raised and reinforced roads to prevent washouts that could trigger broader evacuations.

“We’re tired, but we’re extremely proud of all of the work that everyone has done,” Thomas said. “They’ve truly made a difference with the work that they’ve done.”

Still, he stressed the need for long-term solutions.

“It’s considered insanity to be doing this and expecting things to change, and nothing changes,” he said. “It’s insanity.”

He added that past commitments have not led to lasting change.

“We need action,” he said. “There’s no money here to do long-term solutions, so we’ve advocated for our government to do something.”

In April 2024, Peguis filed a $1-billion lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments, along with two upstream municipalities, over repeated flood damage.

Reeve Shannon Pyziak of the RM of Fisher said they declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night.

“The water levels are high throughout our municipality,” Pyziak said.

“They will recede and then go up and recede again for the next while. We have a few roads closed because of water going across the roads. We also have many more portions of roads with water flowing over them.

“We are erecting Tiger dams and sandbagging at houses which are at risk. We did two (Tuesday) and another (Wednesday). We are continuing to monitor closely what is happening.”

Pyziak said provincial officials have said this year’s flood could reach levels last seen in 2022.

“That flood was impactful,” she said. “The municipality has over $7 million worth of claims,” adding that didn’t include claims involving private property owners.

“We haven’t hit our peak yet in 2026 — they tell us we are a few days away from that — and it also depends on any precipitation we may get in the next few days. Until we see our peak levels, we won’t know the full impact of 2026.”

» Winnipeg Free Press