Western Manitoba communities begin return to normalcy after deluge

BRANDON — Municipal officials in Western Manitoba say their communities are slowly getting back to normal after severe flooding earlier this summer.

“A lot of people have gotten to the point where it’s no longer a disaster. It’s just really annoying and has to be dealt with,” Swan Valley West Reeve Bill Gade said.

There are still a lot of bridges and roads that are out of commission due to two rounds of flooding in June and early July, he said, but noted residents are able to go about their lives without much interruption.

“People have, for the most part, got their houses cleaned up to the point where they can go to work and not worry about them during the day,” Gade said.

Gade said there are still some parts of life that haven’t returned to normal. A day that would typically be spent at the lake is now spent at home because residents aren’t sure if the road they would use is even passable.

“You can get there, but it’s a two- or three-hour detour to get to the place that used to be a half-hour drive, so there’s a lot of just differences in how people are doing things and what they’re doing,” he said.

Trying to maintain Swan Valley West’s 965 kilometres of road while carrying out millions of dollars worth of repairs at the same time is a balancing act for the municipality, Gade said.

The municipality received $500,000 from the province for repairs before the second round of flooding, he said, and is expecting to receive more soon.

Five engineering reports for damaged infrastructure — four of which were for bridges — have been completed at a cost of almost $22 million, he said.

“We’re expecting a $12-million cheque to hit our bank account here in a couple days,” he said.

The reeve said he’s also hearing about residents receiving money from the province’s disaster recovery program. That’s a positive, he said, because people were concerned they might not get any money back or that it would take a long time.

The timeline for all repairs remains up in the air, he said, adding that he’s heard emergency repairs for bridges can take years.

Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson said most people in his town have moved back into their homes, with a small number of people still waiting as contractors continue to work.

“Most people got things to the point where it’s functional, and then kind of go from there. But there’s still a long ways to go,” Jacobson said.

Most of the town’s municipal infrastructure was unaffected, aside from parks flooding, he said. The flooded parks remain closed.

Jacobson said it will probably take a year or more for the town to return to its original state, but that mentally, he doesn’t know if it will ever be the same as it was before the two floods.

Swan River received 106.8 millimetres of rain between June 28 and July 2, and a combined 269.5 mm for all of June. That compares to an average of 84.8 mm it typically receives during that month.

The flooding caused widespread damage of land, homes and roads. Municipalities in Swan Valley had already started recovering and rebuilding from the first flood when the second flood hit.

Down the road in Minitonas-Bowsman, acting reeve Gary Bartel said the recent reopening of Highway 10 between Swan River and Minitonas has made a big difference for travel between the two communities.

The highway, which was cut during the June flooding to allow floodwaters to flow downstream, reopened on July 31.

Bartel said the closure turned what had been a 10- to 12-minute drive into an hour-plus venture.

The municipality has seen a lot of rural roads beat up and is working on small repairs now.

Larger repairs could include building bridges where crossings weren’t needed before, Bartel added.

Flooding and flood damage continue to impact the province’s highway network. Highway 10 is still closed near Ethelbert and Highway 83 near the Shell River is also closed, a provincial update Wednesday said.

A plethora of smaller highways were also closed as of Wednesday, including portions of highways 266, 352, 366, 367, 478, 484, 486, 488, 579, 584, 593 and 594.

In Dauphin, Mayor David Bosiak said some precipitation on Tuesday was the first bit of rain since the flooding at the start of July. That dry weather over the last five weeks has allowed people to clean out basements.

Provincial emergency officials and the Red Cross were in the community earlier this week, he said, to assist people with insurance and disaster financial assistance work.

“The water came quickly and left quickly, and so from a municipal standpoint, we had very little municipal damage,” Bosiak said.

Dauphin received 118.9 mm of rain between June 28 and July 2 and a combined 211.3 mm for the entire month of June. The average for Dauphin in June was previously 80.7 mm.

Along with the temporary loss of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre after the building’s basement flooded, the cancellation of the National Ukrainian Festival was a large blow to the city.

The economic loss of the cancellation was difficult, Bosiak said.

Premier Wab Kinew said in July it would take nine to 12 months for the hospital to reopen, which he called “unacceptable.”

Bosiak said after receiving updates from health officials, “it appears” that the timeline could now be shorter.

Celebrations are being planned for some of the affected communities. Swan Valley West is hosting its delayed Canada Day celebrations on Saturday. Swan River has its Rally for the Valley on Aug. 29, including some events it couldn’t do on Canada Day. A smaller Ukrainian festival and street fair in Dauphin is also set for the middle of September.

— Brandon Sun