Manitoba flood season threats dry up

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This article was published 05/05/2023 (1196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After an uneventful month-plus, the Red River has crested and flooding season has essentially ended, officials say.

The Red is peaking this week north of Emerson, and the Red River Floodway is expected to remain in operation until the end of May.

“We’re going to be preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best — but things are looking very good for now,” Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said at a news conference Friday afternoon near the Assiniboine River.

“And, hopefully, we can get our farmers in the fields, make sure they can get in their fields and get some crop out and have a good growing season this year.”

Most southern Manitoba basins have already peaked, including the Assiniboine, Saskatchewan and Pembina rivers, and Interlake and Whiteshell regions.

There is 10-15 millimetres of precipitation forecast in the next seven to 10 days, but that, too, is not expected to make any heavy impact on water levels.

“Most Manitoba lakes are right at their optimum level for this time of the year, most of them are peaked or near peaked,” Piwniuk said, noting only Dauphin Lake is slightly above operating range but not close to flooding.

Most lakes are still covered in ice but the immediate weather forecast has no severe wind, meaning the risk of ice pile-up is very low, the province said.

The rest of the spring and incoming summer is expected to be warmer than normal but likely won’t involve major precipitation, said Fisaha Unduche, executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure.

At this point, the 2023 flood season is not nearly as severe as this time in 2022, but the Manitoba Emergency Co-ordination Centre will remain activated.

“While we haven’t seen the kind of dikes closures and evacuations that we did last year, we have seen a couple states of local emergency,” said Johanu Botha, head of Emergency Management Organization.

Manitoba has monitored more than 30 road closures related to flooding and eight communities in pump stage this year, he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca