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This article was published 15/05/2011 (4399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton said the area estimated to be affected by the breach in the Assiniboine River dike has been reduced from 225 square kilometres to 180 square kilometres because of the work of survey crews in the last few days.

Ashton said most of the 1,500 Canadian military personnel taking part in the flood fight are working to bolster 17 weak spots in the Assiniboine River dikes between Portage la Prairie and Headingley.

The province said, as of Saturday afternoon, the breach had made it possible to reduce the amount of water going into Lake Manitoba through the Portage Diversion and letting more water stay in the Assiniboine River. The river’s flow east of the diversion was 18,250 cubic feet per second at 9 a.m., but by 11 a.m. it was up to 18,500 cfs. Downstream of the breach, the flow was 18,000 cfs.

Provincial officials said even though the Portage Diversion has been working for days at above its normal capacity channelling water into Lake Manitoba, and the Fairford Dam is dumping as much water as it can out of the lake at the northern end, the lake is still below the natural level that would have occurred in this flood year without either of those structures.

New permanent dikes are being built around both Lake St. Martin and Little Saskatchewan First Nations, and a 10-kilometre permanent dike around Lake Manitoba First Nation and a four-kilometre permanent dike around Sandy Bay First Nation.

To volunteer to fight the flood, call the RM of Portage at 857-4439 or 857-3821; the RM of Headingley at 837-5766; for Lake Manitoba call the RM of St. Laurent at 646-2259, or the RM of Woodlands at 383-5679; for Brandon call 729-2293 or 729-2186; for Delta Beach call 997-4601 and Oakville 267-2741.

Last night, the RM of Portage la Prairie ordered the mandatory evacuation of seven residences because of “escalating concerns over safety.”