Lake storm roundup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/10/2010 (5698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

— RM OF ST. CLEMENTS:

Mayor Steve Strang had no time to celebrate his re-election Wednesday. Instead, he worked through the night helping to shore up dikes against waves three metres above normal levels.

“We had situations where the water was coming right over the road. There was absolutely nothing we could do about it,” he said. “It’s the fury of Mother Nature.”

The RM declared a state of emergency after an estimated 40 cottages and homes were flooded in the Patricia Beach area. Crews began constructing a dike on a road at Patricia Beach.

The late-night work of emergency crews helped prevent dike breaches at Sunset Beach and at Grand Marais, in the RM of Alexander, though properties in the latter area still suffered substantial damage, Strang said.

 

— VICTORIA BEACH:

Environment Canada clocked wind speeds at 94 km/h and six people were forced out of the area.

“It was the biggest storm I’ve seen here in 40 years,” said cottager Reg Gallop, who watched two-metre waves crash onto the banks of Lake Winnipeg.

The storm left around 1,000 people without power around Victoria Beach, Patricia Beach, Gull Lake and Grand Beach Wednesday night.

 

— SAGKEENG FIRST NATION:

Residents of 11 evacuated homes remained camped out at a hotel in nearby Powerview.

Gerald Courchene, who co-ordinated the response, said the emergency-response team was still assessing the homes’ conditions Thursday.

Courchene said the chief and council planned to request a meeting with government officials to look at a permanent solution to flooding.

 

— WINNIPEGOSIS:

The community and surrounding RM of Mossey River declared a state of emergency after strong winds caused overland flooding and forced eight people to evacuate. But by Thursday, clean-up was on the agenda.

“The wind is gone down, and so the water is receding, and that makes life much better,” said spokesman Jo Bunka. He said some evacuees had been allowed back home. Elsewhere in the RM, six homes were flooded and 13 evacuees stayed with family.

 

— RM OF BIFROST:

Reeve Harold Foster said things are starting to get back to normal in Riverton and the surrounding RM of Bifrost, after roads were flooded out and two houses took on water.

Provincial roads 222, south of Riverton, and 329, two kilometres east of Riverton, were still closed Thursday due to flooding.

 

— ELSEWHERE:

37 homes on Peguis First Nation were flooded, with one family evacuated.

Sixteen homes were flooded on Fisher River Cree Nation and three homes on Lake Manitoba First Nation, with no evacuations reported in either case.

In St. Andrews, 20 residents were forced to flee after the RM declared a state of emergency. They were later allowed to return.

Dunnottar declared a state of emergency Thursday due to high lake levels and waves threatening lake-front properties.

Manitoba Infrastructure supplied a number of communities with two emergency response trailers and temporary dams to help protect against overland flooding.

— Lindsey Wiebe