About 300,000 sandbags need to be placed in coming days

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This article was published 02/07/2011 (5206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada soldiers could be called in again to help in Manitoba’s historic flood fight as Souris makes a mad dash to place more than 300,000 sandbags in three days, the mayor of Souris says.

“Right now we have adequate resources to do what we’re doing,” Souris Mayor Darryl Jackson said late Thursday. “But it’s certainly quite possible we’ll need them. They could be mobilized in 12 hours.”

Jackson said Canadian Forces Base Shilo is a short distance away from Souris and closer still to Wawanesa should it need any last-minute help sandbagging before the crest of the flood waters arrives early next week.

“I think it’s just a question of when we need them to come in,” Jackson said.

Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton said he spoke to Manitoba’s senior MP and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews Thursday afternoon updating him on the flood situation.

Ashton and Chuck Sanderson, executive director of Manitoba Emergency Measures, said the decision to call in the military will only be made as a last resort when local and provincial resources are exhausted.

“People are tired, but they’re not fatigued and run down,” Sanderson said. “We are not exhausted in Manitoba. In fact, you’re seeing a rally.”

Ashton said he told Toews the province wouldn’t hesitate to call for military assistance if it was felt the provincial flood fight was running out of steam — something that is not happening.

“The clear thing that we’re seeing is that it’s heroic effort,” Ashton said. “People in the Souris River Valley are really pulling together.”

He said all dikes should be built, and thousands of sandbags placed, when the flood’s crest reaches Souris July 5. Souris is forecast to see 34,000 to 36,000 cubic feet per second of water July 5-8. That’s twice as much water as it saw during the height of the spring flood in April.

“If we needed the military, the minister Mr. Toews indicated again that they would certainly be available,” Ashton said.

Minnedosa Progressive Conservative MLA Leanne Rowat said there’s no reason for the military not to be called in as it would boost Souris’s flood fight. Souris is in her constituency.

“It would bring a sense of relief to a tired part of the province,” she said. “It’s a war zone here. Every time I drive down the street, I cry.”

Jackson said the province has supplied resources to build earth dikes, place heavy super-sandbags and do the technical work necessary to make sure dikes are built to the right height, but his fear is that the moving and placement of 300,000 sandbags could bring his town’s flood fight down to the wire.

“I don’t have a doubt that we’ll need them,” he said of the Canadian Forces based at Shilo.

The military was called in during the spring flood to shore up weakened dikes along the Assiniboine River west of Portage la Prairie and the Portage Diversion. Once the waters receded, they went back to regular duty.

However, heavy spring rains throughout the Prairies coupled with the late melting of the snowpack in the Alberta Rockies renewed flood worries in southwestern Manitoba and in The Pas where the Saskatchewan River is flowing at a level not seen in 100 years. It will peak July 7-12 at 858 to 859.3 feet.

Chief provincial flood-fighter Steve Topping, head of operations for Manitoba Water Stewardship, said flows on the Souris will also raise levels in the Assiniboine River. The Souris meets the Assiniboine near Holland.

The expected inflow at the Portage Reservoir near Portage la Prairie is forecast to reach 48,000 to 52,000 cubic feet per second between July 8-14. That amount means more water being sent down the Portage Diversion into the swollen Lake Manitoba as the Assiniboine River east of Portage can only handle about 18,000 cfs.

“Future weather is the unknown here and the key as to the success,” he said at Thursday’s provincial flood briefing.

The flood fight also continues in Melita, Napinka, Hartney and Wawanesa, which will see more helicopters overhead this weekend lifting and dropping super-sandbags and rock to protect the town’s dam from eroding away under the high water.

“It’s a very expensive dam,” Sanderson said. “It would be a shame to lose that kind of expensive infrastructure if we can avoid that.”

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca