Stranded by floodwater becomes springtime tradition

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This article was published 06/05/2022 (1262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RM OF MORRIS — For the sixth time since Byron and Laurie Edel built their home, it’s accessible only by boat amid a major flood that has submerged roads and huge areas of farmland.

Getting to and from their pickup truck, which is parked on a rural road more than two kilometres away, can be a tricky journey thanks to trees and other debris floating on the surface of what’s become a giant lake.

“It’s always scary because you don’t want to ram into a tree and punch a hole in your boat,” Byron Edel, 57, said Friday by phone from his farm about six kilometres southwest of Morris. “As soon as the wind picks up, the waves get bigger.”

Wind gusts reached almost 40 km/h Friday afternoon, creating rough water conditions which prevented him from leaving.

“Right now, I wouldn’t care to boat right now because there are whitecaps,” said Edel, who has ferried his wife, a school teacher, to and from their truck so she can get to work during the week.

They began using their 4.8-metre aluminum motorboat Monday.

“We always use the tractor until the water gets too deep and you can’t find (the road),” said Edel.

The water is about half a metre over gravel roads, and as deep as 4.5 metres at low-lying land, he said.

The couple’s home survived the Flood of the Century in 1997. It sits higher than the projected Red River crest, which is expected to arrive in Morris next week.

Edel said he and his wife have been forced to use a boat during six spring floods, including in 1997, 2009 and 2011.

During five other seasons, including in 2020, they had to use their tractor to get through floodwater.

Edel said it’s a frustrating inconvenience when their property becomes surrounded by floodwater and cut off from their local road, but it could be worse.

“It’s the same as any other flood,” he said.

Edel has been busy preparing to plant his crop, as the flood delays seeding season.

“If the floodwater sticks around too long, it’s going to cost me money,” said the farmer, who grows crops such as wheat, canola and soybeans on more than 800 hectares. “It’s hard to say when we could seed. Once the water goes off the land, if we get wind and sun, we could be seeding within a week of that.”

Water levels were increasing ahead of a crest that is expected in Emerson between Saturday and Monday, and elsewhere to the floodway inlet by May 14.

This year’s flood will be similar to those in 2009 or 2011, depending on the location in the Red River Valley, the province said.

Communities and most individual properties are protected by ring dikes or other upgrades made in the wake of the 1997 disaster.

The province expects peak flows to continue for about five to seven days from the crest before a gradual decline begins around May 15.

Communities across southern and central Manitoba have been dealing with flooding caused by snow melt and a series of snow and rainstorms.

Johanu Botha, assistant deputy minister of emergency management and head of Manitoba’s Emergency Management Organization, said 26 municipalities had declared local states of emergency as of Friday afternoon.

The total is higher than 2009, when about 16 municipalities declared local emergencies, he said.

Almost 300 residents in the rural municipalities of Dufferin, Emerson-Franklin, Montcalm, Morris, Rhineland and Ritchot have left their homes due to flooding and loss of road access.

Evacuees have been offered rooms in hotels, said Botha.

The emergency and evacuation totals do not include First Nations, including Peguis, where a mandatory evacuation has forced almost 1,600 residents to leave so far.

The Canada Border Services Agency suspended service at the Gretna border crossing on Friday due to a highway closure caused by severe flooding in North Dakota.

Motorists are asked to use the Emerson port of entry, about 24 kilometres to the east of Gretna.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching