12°c Light drizzle
17°c Mainly cloudy
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
No relief for Wanasing Beach
Cottagers busy trying to protect their properties
Bryan Peters says flood fight has marked a turning point for the community.
Flood Fight
-
The latest news about flooding in southern Manitoba this spring.
-
Points of interest in Manitoba's flood fight
-
Compare today's river level in Winnipeg with levels during the 1950, 1997 and 2009 floods.
photos by TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Residents work together to reinforce a dike at Wanasing Beach, which faces towards Traverse Bay on Lake Winnipeg.
WANASING BEACH, MAN. -- On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the water licked the top of the shore but, calmed by the sun, sat in its banks.
But residents in Wanasing Beach know it won't stay that way forever.
Over the weekend, about a dozen intrepid volunteers in the cosy community in the RM of Victoria Beach took to the banks, toting sandbags and yards of thick geotechnical fabric.
Their goal: to shape the sandbags into a protective fortress around the vulnerable sand dike that protects about 55 lakefront cottages -- and more hidden in the green woods behind them -- from the swollen lake's incursions. "All it takes is a wind out of the northeast to push the waves into the dike," said Bryan Peters, who has taken the helm of the volunteer effort. "And the dike won't withstand much more."
That is despite the dike being brand new. Last October, Wanasing Beach was hammered by the weather bomb that ravaged the shores of Lake Winnipeg. The province responded by building a sand dike that stretches the length of the beach -- or what used to be the beach in summers when the lake hadn't risen so high.
But now, many residents' property lines are underwater and dozens of metres of beach are long since submerged. So when a storm struck two weeks ago, the waves devoured chunks of the sandy dike. It now wends moth-bitten along the water's edge, eroded where the waves crashed into its walls. "It's good for holding back water. It's not good for holding back waves," Peters said.
And cottagers fear that if the wind picks up, then worse damage could be on the way. "If we don't have help, we could end up like Delta Beach," said one cottager, who frets about the future of the home her family has held there for over 50 years.
For Peters, the president of the Wanasing Beach Cottagers Association, the flood fight of 2011 has marked a turning point for the community. Many residents in Wanasing Beach are seniors, he said, and the close-knit crowd used to devote most of its organizational energy to planning games for kids at summer picnics.
Now, these same cottagers are learning to fight a flood. It hasn't always been easy, Peters said, but by Sunday afternoon the group had hit its stride. The sandbag wall against the dike sat 15 rows deep while about a dozen neighbours rolled up their sleeves to press the bags into place. That wall will help stop angry waves from eating the dike away when the next storm comes, they hope.
Wanasing Beach cottagers plan to continue the sandbagging effort next week. Volunteers are welcome, Peters said, as the scope of the work may yet prove a challenge -- but volunteers will do whatever it takes to save their homes, they said.
melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 13, 2011 A4
More Local
- Back to Top
- Return to Local
More Local
(1 of 30 articles for today)
Several held in gun sighting
8:41 AMWinnipeg police have taken several people into custody after reports of a gun being seen in the North End this ...
Poll
Most Popular Local
- Doctor charged with sexually assaulting teen at HSC
- Woman drove into river on purpose
- City's first urban reserve born
- Police searching for suspect who woke sleeping teen
- Evidence ignored in dangerous driving acquital, appeal court told
- Teachers vote to donate $1.5M to human rights museum
- Crash victims were good friends, free spirits
- MTS becomes takeover target
- City set to seize derelict hotel
- Piney border crossing picked for remote processing pilot project
- Man dies after being pulled from vehicle submerged in Winnipeg retention pond
- Flood money paid for CEO's romantic trip
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- Crash claims two young women, RCMP say
- Developers to unveil plans for bold downtown tower
- Police identify slaying victims
- Apple trick on Ellen falls short for city woman
- City's first urban reserve born
- Woman drove into river on purpose
- The end of the credit card?
- Hundreds pitch in to dig out houses damaged, destroyed by Ochre Beach ice floe
- A child-custody catastrophe
- Charleswood deaths being investigated as domestic incident
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- Co-worker 'sick' today? Maybe it's the $17M flu
- Man dies after being pulled from vehicle submerged in Winnipeg retention pond
- '2 minutes after I read the winning numbers, I retired': Winnipeg lotto winner
- Flood money paid for CEO's romantic trip
- Parents, community relieved and elated as missing boy found safe
- No threat from bag found at Winnipeg Square
- Better PTSD treatment for RCMP urged
- Armed forces buys buses from Motor Coach
- Teachers vote to donate $1.5M to human rights museum
- Unjust justice: Still no aboriginal court in Manitoba
- SCU pulls Bill 18 petition
- City's first urban reserve born
- City chiropractor guilty of beating, sexually assaulting ex-girlfriend
- Accused fraudster fights extradition to U.S.
- MTS becomes takeover target
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- Developers to unveil plans for bold downtown tower
- Fishing for fashion
- City's first urban reserve born
- Famous city grocer loved job, customers
- Core grocer a challenge: expert
- Flood money paid for CEO's romantic trip
- Grocer Joe Cantor dies at 88
- City chiropractor guilty of beating, sexually assaulting ex-girlfriend
- First Nation celebrates groundbreaking on city's first urban reserve
- North End proud
- Hundreds pitch in to dig out houses damaged, destroyed by Ochre Beach ice floe
- Mental-health patients get own ER
- A child-custody catastrophe
- An uncommon phenomenon
- Steen invests $1M in family entertainment centre
- Developers to unveil plans for bold downtown tower
- Earls on Main going, but new one coming
- Province introduces changes to rules governing landlords, renters
- Crushing blow for amateur sport
- Boost same-sex curricula: union
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.