Manitobans step up flood-fighting preparations
Last Updated: Sunday, March 29, 2009 | 6:53 PM CT
CBC News
Volunteers fill and haul sandbags in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews north of Winnipeg. (Neil Bryan/CBC) Flood-fighting preparations continued in earnest in southern Manitoba on Sunday as freezing weather proved a mixed blessing.
Temperatures below the freezing mark gave officials time to continue sandbagging efforts in communities north of Winnipeg. But the cool weather also did little to ease massive ice jams on the Red River near Lower Fort Garry, north of the Manitoba capital. Those jams are causing the river to back up and flood its banks.
It seems southern Manitobans will be playing a kind of cat-and-mouse game with floodwaters over the next several weeks.
Northeast of Winnipeg, Steve Strang, reeve of the Rural Municipality of St. Clements, said at least 200 homes are at risk of flooding due to frozen drainage ditches and ice jams on the Red. And despite the sandbagging efforts of 1,500 volunteers Saturday, more volunteer help is needed.
"This last few days this weather allowed us time to get caught up," Strang told CBC News Sunday morning.
"It's not just about water coming out of North Dakota. We're dealing with a triple threat," he said, noting the freeze-thaw cycle has frozen drainage ditches and culverts and that water can't drain into the Red River due to ice jams.
"There's a forecast of rain coming on top of this," Strang said.
The RM needs volunteers to help with sandbagging and trucks to move the bags.
Volunteers can call (204) 481-0739.
Better preparations than in '97
South of Winnipeg, evacuations have moved more than 300 people from the low-lying Roseau River First Nation and ring dikes are ready to be closed around several communities at a moment's notice.
But Bob Stefaniuk, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Richot, said the Red River Valley is much better prepared for the coming flood than it was in 1997.
"In '97, the week before, it was absolute pandemonium," he said. "We had the army here, we had thousands of volunteers, and people were feverishly trying to protect their properties. Now, you see the same centre here and there's hardly anyone here.
"One thing I do notice, though, is the anxiety of people still climbs at this time. It affects me, too. When you get into the flood season and there is a threat of a flood, it makes you a little more tense and you can sort of anticipate things."
Stefaniuk noted various levels of government have spent more than $800 million to flood-proof the Red River Valley: expanding the Red River Floodway, building permanent dikes around towns and villages, and helping to raise homes and buildings above the floodplain.
That means 95 per cent of the homes and communities should stay high and dry.
"Fargo is causing a lot of concern," Stefaniuk said. "People tend to think what's happening in Fargo is going to happen here. But there's no correlation.
"They don't have the flood protection systems we have. The river valley has a different configuration [in North Dakota]. It's wider and it tends to be shallower, so it's much more affected."
Some prepare for the worst
But not everyone south of the Manitoba capital is confident they will get away unscathed as the Red River begins to thaw and bulge and tributaries begin to overflow.
Ted Sabourin, an 85-year-old farmer who has lived beside the Red River near St. Jean Baptiste all his life, is convinced the provincial forecasters who are predicting water levels equal to the second worst flood in the last century are wrong.
Sabourin said he's lived through 25 floods and everything he sees points to something more serious.
"This year won't be much different than the flood of the century [in 1997]. I'm very worried, yes."
Sabourin has already bought a bigger boat and filled the gas tank.
He's preparing for a week or so from now when the river floods the road and leaves his home an island.
Meanwhile, officials hope ice jams on the Red south of Winnipeg will clear in time to open the Red River Floodway so that water flowing north from the United States can be diverted around the city.
It now appears the Red could rise to 6.25 metres above normal winter ice levels in downtown Winnipeg, and that's 15 centimetres more than was thought just a couple days ago.
Sandbags are being piled around homes in low-lying areas of Winnipeg. The Red is expected to peak in Winnipeg about April 3.
Grant Mohr, Winnipeg's flood protection planner, said there's a strong likelihood there will be ice jamming on the Red within the city.
"As a result of this we will be raising the secondary dikes within the city," he said.
