Westman hit by further flooding, power outages after storm

BRANDON — A slow-moving thunderstorm dumped more than 100 millimetres on several towns in western Manitoba, flooding out basements and washing out highways in a region already water-logged by previous deluges.

Environment and Climate Change Canada reported that Boissevain received 152 millimetres of rain during the storm, which started late Monday afternoon. Other communities that received more than 100 mm of rain included Deloraine (129.8), Minto (113.3), Neepawa (101.4), Plumas (101.3) and Rivers (100.8).

Brian Proctor, a meteorologist for the federal agency, said the “very active area of thunderstorms” developed Monday afternoon over North Dakota before pushing north.

The weather system produced “copious amounts of precipitation in portions of Westman.”

The intense overnight rain in southern Manitoba created flash flooding and left thousands without power.

The Municipality of Boissevain-Morton, south of Brandon, declared a state of local emergency because of the effect of flooding on its 2,300 residents.

Manitoba Hydro reported that at one point, 14,200 of its customers across Manitoba had no power.

Hydro said it had brought on extra crews to respond to widespread outages caused by the wind and rain.

The utility said some customers could be without power overnight, including in the Lac du Bonnet area, Parkland region, and even small groups or individual customers in Winnipeg.

Crews are dealing with fallen tree branches, washed-out roads, downed lines, broken poles and lightning-damaged equipment, a news release said.

As of Tuesday at 5 p.m., more than 3,800 customers were without power across Manitoba, with close to 1,300 of those customers in Winnipeg.

“We have made significant restoration progress since last night; however, we have been getting more reports of outages and damages rolling in throughout the day,” said Scott Powell, communications for Manitoba Hydro.

Heavy rainfall in the Parkland region has washed out roads, in some cases knocking down wood poles and cutting off road access to communities such as Benito, Minitonas and Swan River.

Crews also must rebuild a section of power line that was severely damaged by a tornado near Rossburn this week. Most customers in that outage were restored within a few hours thanks to an alternate line, however permanent repair work is ongoing.

Canada Day celebrations planned for Wednesday in the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton were cancelled following Monday’s downpour as the community began dealing with the aftermath.

“In town, it was a nightmare, actually,” Boissevain-Morton Head of Council Judy Swanson said on Tuesday.

“My rain gauge holds six inches, and it was over that in an hour and a half, it’s got nowhere to go,” Swanson said.

The heavy rain caused the sewer system to back up. People were lined up at insurance offices on Tuesday morning, she said.

Swanson said all of the equipment in Boissevain was in working order, but that the system was “overloaded” and “overwhelmed.”

Residents were being told on Tuesday to lower their water usage to give the system time to clean out.

“Everyone is going to be dealing with cleanup,” Swanson said.

In a statement, Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said the safety of Manitobans is the government’s “top priority” and it’s working with leadership in the Westman region to make sure they have the help they need during the flooding.

“Staff and resources have been deployed to the affected communities to assist in flood response and assess the damage,” said Naylor. “We are aware that some municipalities have declared a local state of emergency and we will remain in contact with them to monitor the situation closely.”

The Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester, in the southwest corner of the province, also declared a state of emergency and warned non-residents to stay off some roads.

Boissevain resident Darren Sicinski said his home flooded after the sewer backed up and water rushed out of his toilet.

“Before the water started really coming in, me and my wife Heather, we just kind of got as much as stuff as we could out of there, like our passports and all our important information,” he said. “Everything else can be replaced.”

“This morning we woke up to just over two feet of water in the basement, and everything was just destroyed,” Sicinski said.

Meanwhile, Minto-area farmer Jake Ayre said the “sudden downpours” caused a lot of overland flooding.

“The one approach to our farm completely washed out. I mean, the water is subsiding, but it was going over the road, the culverts just couldn’t handle that much water that fast,” said Ayre, who is the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ vice-president and district 1 director for the Boissevain area.

“The biggest thing we need right now is for that water to be able to move and get off the land.”

He and his father have been farming in the area for 24 years, he said, and this is only the second time they’ve their land has been saturated by water.

“It looks like we have a lake right now,” he said.

“Hopefully the water will be able to flow off and move, but I know at the moment everyone’s kind of trying to help move any excess water, or ensure that drains and culverts and stuff are flowing and free of debris,” Ayre said.

Further north, Manitoba’s disaster management agency issued several flash flood emergency alerts, including for Swan Valley in the Parkland region, which was also hit by heavy flooding in early June. Several roads and highways were closed owing to flooding and washouts.

Greg Boyko, a councillor in the Rural Municipality of Mossey River, approximately 390 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, said the situation has been changing from hour to hour.

“No one has ever seen it this bad this time of year.”

The councillor said water is flowing downhill toward the RM and “hitting every ridge.”

“It’s knocking out basically every north-south road all the way to Highway 20,” he said, noting residents are being told not to travel, as he estimates more than 40 roads have been breached, with “multiple breaches per road.”

Power outages in parts of the community overnight and earlier in the day also created some hairy situations, as people were trying to pump water out of their basements using generators, but he said since then, power has come back for many.

The municipal council declared a state of emergency early Tuesday.

“Communication is the biggest thing right now,” he said, as emergency officials are working to keep in contact with community members cut off by the flooding.

“We’ve talked to our local fire departments,” he said. “If there’s an emergency, we have a plan of action to go and get these people if need be. Whether it be (with) large equipment, or in some cases, it’s looking like it might even be boats.”

Boyko said if Highway 20 is breached by floodwater, it would be “catastrophic.”

The RMs of Dauphin, Ethelbert, Grandview, Mountain, Gilbert Plains, Lakeshore and Ste. Rose all declared local states of emergency Tuesday.

Other communities in the area have remained under states of emergency since early June when the region was previously hit by flooding, such as the Rural Municipality of Roblin, which advised residents Tuesday to be prepared to evacuate on short notice, as there have been riverbank breaches on both the Shell River and Big Boggy Creek.

In Brandon, crews were preparing equipment near Grand Valley Road (Highway 459) in the north of the city, to build a dike if the Assiniboine River were to overflow. The city received as much as 67 mm of rain.

The city’s emergency co-ordinator, Tobin Praznik, said he expects the river to continue rising because it and the Little Saskatchewan River, a tributary, had swollen because of the storm.

If the scenic route is submerged, crews will plug the road so water doesn’t go onto 18th Street North, a main north-south artery, Praznik said.

“Depending on the river levels and flows, there’s a chance that it could exceed Grand Valley Road,” he said. “If the forecast does deem that necessary, then we’ll take the necessary steps to close that off.”

Praznik said during the storm, several roads were flooded and some back lanes even washed out. City transit was forced to detour in some areas.

The City of Dauphin, while not under a state of emergency, asked residents to reduce water usage, as the municipality’s stormwater system is at capacity.

Lisa Gaudet, Dauphin’s deputy city manager, said there have been numerous reports of flooded basements or damage caused by overland flooding from the Vermillion River in low-lying areas.

“We are providing sand and bags at our city shop for residents … because we do have some areas of the city where people are battling the water getting into their basements,” she said. “Our phones have been going fairly steady this morning.”

She said it’s difficult to know how many people have been affected and said while some intersections in Dauphin have flooded here or there, traffic is moving throughout the city.

— Brandon Sun, with files from Morgan Modjeski