Flooded-out Interlake farmers call for government action on neglected watershed drainage system

RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF WOODLANDS — Guiding his side-by-side vehicle over a narrow trail separating hundreds of acres of flooded fields in this rural Manitoba municipality Thursday, local farmer Brian Boonstra said there is little hope of saving his crops.

The co-owner of Boonstra Farms Ltd., is among the dozens of south Interlake agricultural producers devastated by overland flooding related to a massive thunderstorm that dropped 255 millimetres of water on the region on June 9.

While the floodwaters have largely receded from the nearby towns and communities — leaving hundreds of homeowners to tear out their soggy basements — thousands of acres of farmland remain swamped in standing water.

“Farmers live off hope — hope is what keeps you going,” Boonstra said.

“I’m hoping we can get this water off and get our land back into shape, so we can plant some forage crops and produce feed for our cows, whether it’s oats or barley. It’s too late to harvest a grain crop…. It’s not going to happen this year.”

Boonstra said the storm has highlighted longstanding issues within the watershed district surrounding his property south of Woodlands, which relies on Sturgeon Creek to carry water from the surrounding municipalities and into Winnipeg before emptying into the Assiniboine River.

The drainage infrastructure serving the watershed has gone for decades without maintenance or investment, even as farming operations and communities in the area have grown. Now, the demand on the network of ditches, culverts and tributaries is too much for the watershed to handle, causing flooding about once every five or six years, he said.

Farming is a fickle and expensive business at the best of times, but it has grown increasingly unsustainable in this corner of the Interlake, owing to the drainage issues, Boonstra said.

He and dozens of other agricultural producers in the region hosted a news conference Thursday, demanding government intervention.

“As individual farmers, we’ve all lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and some of us have most likely lost millions,” Boonstra said, referring to the recent disaster.

”We would really like to see the province make a big investment into improving this drainage system… something needs to be done to figure out a way to move this water faster.”

The area’s Progressive Conservative MLA, Trevor King, joined the farmers in their call. He said he would like the government to clarify whether agricultural producers in the region will qualify for disaster financial assistance.

The program does not typically cover losses on properties in which insurance was active or available, but Premier Wab Kinew has promised aid to rural Manitobans.

Kinew said the province might change the rules of the program to help victims of the flood who might not otherwise qualify for DFA.

“We need some clarity of what kind of support is going to be there,” King said. “He (Kinew) says he doesn’t want to leave any rural Manitobans behind… so we want to make sure we’re included in that when it comes to the producers.”

King also wrote a letter to the province this week, urging it to consider opening the Assiniboine River Diversion near Portage la Prairie.

He believes that doing so would alleviate flooding in the RMs of Rosser, St. Francois Xavier, Woodlands, Cartier, Rockwood and elsewhere.

In response, the province told him the current rate of waterflow at the diversion does not meet the threshold for it to be opened, based on its operational guidelines, King said.

“I think we need to take a good look at those guidelines, where it makes sense to utilize some infrastructure that we have here to alleviate problems downstream,” he said.

In a statement, Municipal Relations Minister Glen Simard said the province is reviewing and strengthening the disaster financial assistance program “to ensure it can better respond to the impacts of extreme weather events.”

“We recognize the significant challenges faced by producers, rural Manitobans and communities affected by this storm, and we are committed to making sure supports are available for those who need them,” the statement said.

“We have already started repairing damaged roads and infrastructure and helping out producers with impacts from the storm.”

Manitoba Emergency Management Organization employees are visiting flood-hit municipalities in the Interlake this week to answer questions and provide clarity on applying for disaster assistance.

Such sessions have already taken place in the RM of Rockwood, RM of Rosser and in Stonewall. Additional sessions in the RM of Grahamdale and the RM of West Interlake will resume next week.

Whatever support is coming must come soon. If more rain falls before the water drains from this overwhelmed watershed district, it could spell big trouble and further losses for already frustrated farmers, Boonstra said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca