The rural municipalities of Blanchard, St. Laurent, Franklin, and St. Clements have all declared states of emergency due to overland flooding.

The state-of-emergency status enables the municipalities to access provincial resources to fight the flood, and prevent further damages by ordering evacuations and restricting travel in the areas.

The regions are experiencing many washed-out roads and flooded basements, due to water backing up from ice jams and frozen culverts in the ditches.

The RM of St. Laurent takes in a number of communities in Manitoba's Interlake district north of Winnipeg near Lake Manitoba, while St. Clements includes a swath of the northern region near Lake Winnipeg. Franklin is about 80 kilometres south of Winnipeg and Blanchard is northwest of Brandon.

Dominion City, in the RM of Franklin, became the first Manitoba community to declare a state of emergency, making the announcement on Monday.