Most Manitobans displaced by 2011 flooding are now back in their homes.

The province on Friday announced that 70 per cent of flood claims have been completed as part of the largest flood recovery effort since 1950.

During the spring and summer, appraisers conducted 2,500 structural damage appraisals.

So far, expenses from the 2011 flood totals just over $1 billion.

The province praised the Lake St. Martin emergency channel for bringing down water levels on Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba.

The level on Lake Manitoba right now is at 247 metres, which is normal according to the province.

At the peak of the 2011 flood, there were 7,000 people evacuated from their homes. Around Lake Manitoba alone there were 276 evacuated families.

Two hundred of those families returned home over the summer with another 20 families expected to be home over the coming weeks.

First Nation communities were affected by flooding with evacuations in 16 communities and today, six communities still have evacuations in place.

All of the 179 Lake Manitoba First Nation evacuees are home, while 122 of the 179 evacuees from Pinaymootang First Nation have returned home since July 2012.

The geographical scope of the 2011 flood was the largest in Manitoba's history, the government stated in a news release on Friday.

"The province responded by developing special assistance programs like the Lake Manitoba Financial Assistance Program, which included assistance for cottage owners for the first time, and several other agriculture assistance programs that were completely provincially funded," Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton stated in the release.

"These programs are in addition to the Disaster Financial Assistance Program, which is cost-shared with the federal government."

There were three times the number of assistance claims filed after the 2011 flood than after the 1997 flood. Less than three per cent of the assistance payments have been appealed.

Provincial flood expenses so far include:

• Agriculture assistance: $359 million
• Assistance for homes and cottages under the Lake Manitoba Flood Assistance Program: $48 million.
• Disaster financial assistance: $289 million.
• Flood fighting, mitigation, restoration and flood proofing: $240 million
• Emergency channel and other infrastructure works: $89 million.

A compensation program will be developed in the coming months for residents affected by artificial flooding downstream of the Shellmouth Dam in 2011 and 2012, Ashton noted.

Those people will be contacted soon on the details, he said.