Cold temps stall flooding, give Interlake communities time to set up defences

Workers and volunteers in communities and First Nations in the Interlake are working feverishly to protect homes and property from a flood just days away as snow has begun to melt.

The Hydrologic Forecast Centre of Manitoba says the snow melt has begun in parts of southern and central Manitoba and has resulted in rising levels on rivers and streams.

The province said on Friday a high-water advisory was issued for the Assiniboine River from the Shellmouth Dam to Portage la Prairie.

Next week’s predicted warmer temperatures are expected to increase both the melt and ice movement across southern and central Manitoba.

As well, the province said runoff is expected to start next week in the Interlake where some communities, including Peguis First Nation, are bracing for the potential of a flood as a devastating as the record deluge in 2022.

But while the snow and freezing rain that hit parts of southern Manitoba overnight Thursday to Friday turned out to be minimal, Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said more could arrive next week.

“Manitoba didn’t get the worst of the system that Alberta and Saskatchewan did,” Lang said.

“I don’t think people trying to drive around in the cars from the freezing rain would say the bullet was dodged, but in terms of big amounts of snow or rain, that bullet was dodged.”

Lang said, with temperatures predicted to be in the teens next week, the snow will melt quickly, and forecasters are watching another weather system set for later in the week.

“It’s a Colorado low, so really a tricky system,” she said. “It is something to keep an eye on.

“The further west it travels, it’s more likely you are in the warm air with rain, but the further east it travels the more likely you are in snow. The models are still trying to figure out the path of this thing.”

Peguis First Nation Chief Stan Bird was too busy on flood preparations to speak to the Free Press Friday, but a spokesperson said emergency preparations were continuing there.

The province has predicted that the Fisher River, which runs through the community about 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg, could rise to 2022 levels. That year, hundreds of residents were forced to flee and there was millions of dollars in damage to property and infrastructure.

Mischa Kaplan, CEO of Team Rubicon Canada, which has had a team of dozens of retired military veterans and emergency workers busy putting up sandbags around homes and properties in Peguis since last weekend, said they all appreciated the cooler weather on Friday.

“It was -15 with a windchill and it was snowing for most of the day,” Kaplan said. “Obviously, that is not great working conditions, but it was good from a flooding perspective because it means there is less water melting at the moment.”

He said weather forecasters had predicted the flooding would start Sunday, but the cooler weather has pushed it back to mid-week.

“It gives everyone a few more days to be prepared.”

Kaplan said the people he has met in Peguis “are just incredibly resilient.”

“You see situations like this and you see the best in people. There are literally hundreds of folks from the community out sandbagging every day.”

Further south, Reeve Brian Johnson of the Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton, said he appreciates the cooler temperatures in the last couple of days.

“We’re fortunate this year compared to 2022 because, unless we get significant rainfall in the next few days, the fields are very dry and Lake Winnipeg is so low it can take an awful lot of water,” Johnson said.

“There still could be some overland flooding, but the frost and freezing at night is good. It was really the heavy rains in April in 2022 that really did the damage to us.”

The province is forecasting a major flood risk for the Icelandic River basin, which flows through both the municipality and the town of Arborg.

The municipality and town are warning residents that if a tiger dam was needed for flood protection in the past, it will be needed this year, and people are being asked to clear snow six metres from homes to make way for it to be installed.

As well, they are being told to move valuables to higher ground and prepare to move livestock.

Arborg Mayor Peter Dueck said the town is being proactive and is filling sandbags and opening frozen culverts.

Meanwhile, at Fisher River Cree Nation, surveyors were busy on Friday checking out flood-prone homes to see how much protection was needed while super sandbags were being delivered to some residences.

As well, the Rural Municipality of Fisher said it was experiencing local flooding with water either running over roads or washing them out.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca