Extensive flood soaks Assiniboine valley

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This article was published 19/06/2010 (5820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Rising flood water will likely destroy a large swath of seeded farmland in the Assiniboine River Valley over the next several days and swamp low-lying areas in Brandon, Manitoba’s senior river forecaster says.

The province issued a flood warning on Friday for much of western Manitoba after a massive weather system stormed through the region on Thursday, dumping up to 150 millimetres of rainfall on saturated farmland and rural communities.

As a result, the Assiniboine River valley will be flooded from the Shellmouth Dam to Brandon, about 200 kilometres, with the river cresting by early July, says Manitoba Water Stewardship’s Alf Warkentin.

“This is big. This is a very serious, extensive flood. The entire valley will get flooded all the way to Brandon,” Warkentin said Friday.

“That means the valley that is seeded to crops will get flooded… but the crest is still quite a ways away.”

Between 15 to 30 per cent of acres in southwestern Manitoba will likely not be harvested this fall.

Manitoba Agriculture adviser Kristen Phillips said waterlogged producers are considering planting green feed crops for livestock producers.

“We might see more fall rye and winter wheat acres get in because guys are going to want to get something in the ground so there’s not just soil blowing in the wind.”

Runoff water in the valley will swell the Assiniboine River to 1,173 feet in Brandon by July 5 — five feet higher than its current level.

“That puts you above a foot above flood stage,” he said.

Killarney, Boissevain and the areas north of Carberry and north of Neepawa were hard by Thursday’s storm.

“We have numerous culverts and bridges washed out,” said Reeve Edward Levandoski of the RM of Rosedale, north of Neepawa.

“A lot of the streams in Duck Mountain (Provincial Park) are over-bank. There’s a lot of water sitting in the fields. It’s a nightmare,” Warkentin added.

He said it was only seven weeks ago that Manitobans were facing drought-like conditions. The first storm came at the end of April, a couple of smaller rains followed over the next two weeks but a “big one” hit the province on the May long weekend.

“There have been downpours ever since, which have kept the ground very wet. That’s why it’s producing so much runoff and flooding. If we had normal conditions, (the recent rains) would have caused minor problems. This is the nail in the coffin,” Warkentin said.

He said residents need to be on the lookout for high water and should take steps to protect their property from flooding, including using water pumps and sandbags. “You need to be careful with transportation routes, too. You don’t want to be going 90 km/h and run into a washed-out culvert.”

Warkentin warned of a weather system emerging in the northern U.S., which could arrive in Manitoba by Monday or Tuesday. “Any additional rain would be very unwelcome,” he said.

— Brandon Sun,

with files from Geoff Kirbyson