Towns race against rising water

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This article was published 25/03/2009 (6038 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LORETTE — Instead of preparing for the birth of their first child in April, Amanda and Dennis Chopp are preparing for the worst.

The young couple are scrambling to sandbag the home they just fixed up as the overflowing Seine River surges into their yard near Lorette. They’re among hundreds of Manitobans whose homes are surrounded by icy overland flooding.

Overnight, the rushing river crept into their back yard within a metre of their home.

"The Seine River rose four feet (Monday)," said Dennis Chopp, hauling sandbags in a wheelbarrow.

"It seems like we now have a lake," said Amanda Chopp, whose due date is mid-April.

She said they contacted the RM of Tache Monday and a load of sand was delivered to their driveway Tuesday morning.

"We need volunteers," said Amanda who is almost at 37 weeks gestation.

"I can’t do anything."

On Monday, the medical assistant at Klinic in Winnipeg started her maternity leave and woke up with a cold. "This is ridiculous," she said.

"Today we have family and friends leaving their jobs and sandbagging," she said, looking out the window at the water lapping at the shore that creeps closer to their home.

"It’s depressing," she said, her stiff upper lip starting to shake as she gave way to tears.

Outside, her aunt Peggy Senkiw, her husband’s step-mom Rose Chopp and her cousin Kristin Chornoboy filled sandbags.

"Amanda needs a place to bring the baby home to," said Senkiw, trying to shore up the place near the Seine River that her niece and husband bought and have spent the last two and a half years renovating.

 

"They’ve worked so hard," said Rose Chopp, tying the sandbags filled by Senkiw.

The young couple has re-done the interior of the house, landscaped the yard and had pumps at the ready. They thought they were prepared, said Amanda.

"We knew in ’97 they did sandbagging and there was some water in the basement," said Amanda. They didn’t expect ice jams to cause the Seine to overflow.

Provincial officials say it’s not unusual to see high levels on the Seine River from Dufresne to Lorette before the ice moves out, and there is high water in many areas right now.

"This is going to be a year to remember," said Amanda Chopp.

That’s likely going to be true for homeowners across Southern Manitoba.

To date, washed out roads and flooded basements have prompted three Manitoba rural municipalities to declare a state of emergency — Blanchard, Franklin and Stanley. Two RMs — Eriksdale and Hanover — have issued a "prevention emergency order". Provincial officials say neither declarations have to do with accessing disaster financial assistance but are "action oriented". They let RMs take action against flooding in a timely way without having to cut through red tape or wait for approvals or permission to go on private land, for instance.

All along Provincial Road 207 southeast of Winnipeg, dump trucks delivered sand to homes where ditches are overflowing.

In Lorette, pumps and hoses line the main drag as the community tries to prevent water in blocked culverts from flooding homes and roads.

To the south in Landmark, two pickup trucks full of high school kids and sandbags were unloaded in front of Ella Rempel’s home. The senior’s bungalow is in the middle of the lake that’s connected to the backyards of homes up and down the block.

The water is creeping up one side of her home as Landmark resident John Peters helped direct the crew of teens trying to protect the house.

"All of us are getting flooded because the culverts are frozen," said Peters. "The nice weather came a little too quickly," he said. All the melting snow and recent rain has been too much for the town’s ditches.

Grizzled veterans of Landmark’s spring flooding like Peters and Rolly Wiebe directed young volunteers in the fine art of sandbagging Tuesday.

"The kids who come from the high school are the greatest," said Wiebe. "They’re are future." With a wicked north wind whipping up waves in Rempel’s yard, the students quietly went about their business.

Nicole Heide, a Grade 11 student at Landmark Collegiate, said she was a little sore on the second day of sandbagging but glad to be there.

"It’s helping the community and a good thing to do. And I get out of doing school work."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca