Rising Red sparks flood warnings; floodway set to be activated

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/04/2022 (1299 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Communities along the Red River are bolstering defences amid flood warnings and watches, even as the province prepares to activate the floodway to protect Winnipeg by week’s end.

About two to 10 millimetres of snow and rain has fallen on much of the river basin this week, and another 10 20 mm is expected into Thursday, but a slow melt has mitigated potential flooding.

Ralph Groening, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Morris, was taking it in stride Wednesday.

“It’s become a busier week than hoped but we’re managing just fine,” he said. “For the moment, I’m confident that we can address any of the concerns that are presented to us.”

Communities such as Morris, Ste. Jean Baptiste, Letellier and St. Adolphe are under flood warnings while other areas, including Emerson, and just south of Winnipeg are under flood watches. The province issues a warning when water levels are expected to exceed flood stage within the next 24 hours.

Groening noted there has been modest overland flooding in low-lying areas, and blocked culverts. Water has accumulated on farm fields.

One major road has closed — Riverside Road, which connects provincial roads 205 and 23 through Morris — but no houses or businesses are threatened.

“The very, very slow melt has caused some pooling… we have half a dozen machines that are clearing snow and ice out of drain ditches, so water can flow,” he said, having just returned from a tour around the area.

Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre reported Tuesday the Red had spilled its banks at St. Jean Baptiste.

The Red is expected to peak near Emerson, and then the floodway inlet south of Winnipeg, between Thursday and April 16.

Operation of the floodway is expected to keep the Red at between 17.3 to 18.3 feet at the James Avenue station in downtown Winnipeg. It was 18.3 feet as of Wednesday afternoon.

In Selkirk, officials closed the bridge over Highway 204, in what has become an annual event as river ice jams up and sparks flooding of low-lying areas. On Wednesday, the bridge was cordoned off as a mixture of snow and ice fell and the wind howled.

City chief administrative officer Duane Nicol noted the bridge, which connects Selkirk on the west to the Rural Municipality of St. Clements to the east, closes almost yearly.

South of Selkirk, in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, some deep ditches and farm fields along Highway 9 were flooded Wednesday.

The city closed Selkirk Park temporarily as workers built dikes around the two boat launches — the Red rose about an inch at the boat launch Wednesday morning. Nicol noted most of the city’s low-lying areas are parkland, the golf course or farm fields, and not homes or businesses.

“It started off concerning and it has moved toward a more standard and acceptable risk,” Nicol said of the flood level expected this year. “Of course, our issue in Selkirk is never river level, really — if we have a water situation in Selkirk, Winnipeg is already flooded. For us, it’s really the ice jams and right now, the ice isn’t really flowing.”

Provincial crews are in the Red River Valley to monitor conditions.

On the Assiniboine River, the level is expected to increase to 5,000 cubic feet per second in the next day or so and trigger the operation of Portage Diversion, a 29-km channel west of Portage la Prairie that diverts water from the Assiniboine northward into Lake Manitoba.

The measure prevents ice jams on the river and controls its level in Winnipeg, where there are many low-lying properties with homes.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera