Peguis damage likely over $1M

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This article was published 21/04/2009 (6202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PEGUIS FIRST NATION — Residents and officials from this aboriginal community say they expect the bill to exceed $1 million in damages to several hundred homes.

The assessment comes after the swollen Fisher River spilled its banks and overland flooding swamped residents who thought they were immune from flooding.

"We never sandbagged because provincial officials told us there would only be minor flooding," Colin Williams, the Peguis First Nation flood co-ordinator, said.

Williams estimated at least 300 of the Interlake community’s 800 homes suffered flood damage to some degree, with damage to band buildings and 75 per cent of area roads.

Springtime flooding is an annual event in this community, where the surrounding farmland drains into the Fisher River, which winds its way through Peguis, located about 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

But Williams said no one in the community was prepared for the sudden increase in the Fisher River, which struck here eight days ago.

Clarence Daniels was standing on the porch of his brand-new house, built he said to elevations to exceed flood levels of 1997 and 1979.

On Easter Sunday the river spilled its banks and flowed into nearby homes. Daniels had moved into his home only in March.

 

"I built it at an elevation that I thought would be safe," Daniels said. "I still got 18 inches of water in my basement."

Damage to Daniels’ home was minimal. His neighbours, Valerie Wilson and Dwayne Schribar, weren’t so lucky. River water poured into their basement almost to the ceiling.

"We woke up and it was over," Schribar said. "There was no point in trying to pump it out because the level in the basement matched that outside in my yard."

Karen Courchene lives across the road from Daniels and Schribar and Wilson and watched as the river swallowed up her neighbours’ land.

"The river never went past the road so we thought we were safe," Courchene, a guidance teacher at a school in nearby Fisher River, said. Her home is now surrounded by water.

"I don’t know where this came from," Courchene said, shaking her head in disbelief as she explained how her property was swallowed up this weekend by overland flooding. "There were only puddles in my front yard and then it rained all weekend and now I’m surrounded by water."

Williams said the level of the Fisher dropped more than a metre from Sunday night to Monday morning, sending a signal for the cleanup to begin.

More than 800 people were removed from the community as a precaution, most taken to Winnipeg, Williams said, adding another 56 people moved out of their homes and are staying with relatives or friends whose properties are on higher ground.

"This has been hard on our people," Williams said. "A lot of personal belongings were destroyed and they’ll never be properly compensated for that loss."

Williams said the community is only now sandbagging damaged homes so their basements can be pumped out without fear of the water flowing back in.

A door-to-door examination will be conducted of all homes in the community, Williams said, adding cleaning up is the first priority.

"We have to get the homes cleaned up for when our people come back."

Williams said provincial officials visited the community on the weekend and promised that residents here would be eligible for flood compensation, just like residents of rural southern Manitoba.

Later Monday, Steve Ashton, minister responsible for emergency measures, confirmed that news when he announced that Peguis and all affected First Nations communities would be eligible for flood compensation.

He said the province will recover all monies paid to reserve communities from Ottawa.

The local recreation centre is serving as headquarters for Peguis flood relief efforts. Volunteers manned phones, homes needing sandbags were targeted and a tally is being made of the damage to the homes and the roads in the community.

Several roads were washed out and crews were beginning repairs.

"We can never budget for something like this," Williams said.

Eugene Felix is a commercial fisherman who has been working 12-hour days helping out.

"I’ve been answering the phones, delivering water and helping get people out of their homes," Felix, 40, said. "I’ve only lived here for 13 years but I’ve never seen the water come up so fast and so high."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

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