Floodway may be opened: province

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This article was published 20/05/2015 (4093 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province will decide in the coming days whether last weekend’s rain will necessitate the operation of the Red River Floodway.

A spokesman for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation said substantial rain fell over the Red River basin in the past few days, and peak flows of 21,000 to 29,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) are expected at Ste. Agathe within the next week.

The Red River at James Avenue was 12.7 feet above normal winter-ice levels as of late Tuesday afternoon — roughly four feet above the walkway at The Forks. The Assiniboine River also remains high.

From 50 millimetres to 100 mm of rain fell throughout the Red River basin on the long weekend.

The province issued a statement late Tuesday saying it would monitor river levels this week to determine whether it needs to operate the floodway to help prevent basement sewer backups in Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, a reeve in southwestern Manitoba said her council met on Victoria Day to decide whether to declare a local state of emergency after heavy rain in that region.

Debbie McMechan, reeve of the RM of Two Borders (formerly the municipalities of Albert, Edward and Arthur in the province’s southwest corner), said from 35 mm to 125 mm fell on the long weekend.

Ultimately, the municipality decided against declaring a local emergency since lives were not in danger and evacuations were not required.

But it remains concerned about the effects of road washouts and plans to petition the province to speed up repairs to area roads.

“We have farmers who are driving 15 to 20 miles (in detours) because they can’t get to their fields,” McMechan said.

Some washouts have not been properly repaired from previous floods, McMechan said, blaming the province for refusing to allow sufficient materials and labour to do the job properly.

“Every time we have a little rain event now… we’re back to square one,” she said.

In its release, the province said the Souris River basin received from 50 mm to 90 mm of rain, but the river is expected to remain below peak March levels.

The Portage Diversion is not expected to be put into operation.

The peak flow of the Assiniboine River at the Portage Diversion is expected to be below 12,000 cfs. However, river levels could be above the 10,000 cfs mark until the end of May, the government said.

The Qu’Appelle River and the area upstream of the Assiniboine River did not receive significant precipitation, so no changes are needed in the operation of the Shellmouth dam, the province said.

Along the Red River, the first peak of about 21,000 cfs is expected at Ste. Agathe within a day or two. The second peak, higher than the first at about 29,000 cfs, is expected within five to seven days.

Local crop specialists said it would likely be early next week before the extent of the damage to this year’s grain crops is known.

‘We have farmers who are driving 15 to 20 miles (in detours) because they can’t get to their fields’

— Debbie McMechan (left), reeve of the RM of Two Borders, poses in front of a washed-out municipal road near Pierson last August. Fields were flooded in the municipality last year

“It always takes a little bit of time to really assess the impact,” said Pam de Rocquigny, a cereal crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.

“What we’re looking for is for the crop to resume growth… and it takes a few days for that to happen,” she added. “We’ll know by next week what the level of impact will be.”

Bruce Burnett, a crop specialist with CWB (formerly the Canadian Wheat Board), said he expects the damage from snow and freezing temperatures won’t be as bad as some might think because a lot of the crops haven’t fully emerged from the ground.

Hopefully, the damage from too much rain will be limited, Burnett added.

“There might be damage to certain parts of fields, but I don’t think there will be any widespread, overall damage from the wetness, to be honest.”

Burnett and Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier said the good news is if some crops are badly damaged, farmers should still have time to reseed fields.

But Mazier and de Rocquigny said farmers should wait to see how their crops respond to this week’s expected warm, dry weather before deciding whether to plant another crop.

“It’s all just about patience right now…” Mazier said.

 

— with files from Murray McNeill

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca