Whiteshell cottage, lodge owners welcome return

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This article was published 11/06/2022 (1574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

North Whiteshell cottagers, residents and visitors alike made a tentative return to the area Saturday after some flood closure and evacuation orders were lifted.

Opening his resort’s doors was a comfort to Barrier Bay Resort owner D.J. Seales, after having to cancel multiple bookings since they were ordered to evacuate May 24. Several people booked cabins right after the announcement that they’d be able to return was made Thursday afternoon.

“It’s been nice, it’s been really good. A lot of our guests were wanting to come out and were sad that they couldn’t,” Seales told the Free Press Saturday.

“We’re happy that they’re able to come out to come to their vacation that they planned, and we’re not losing money from not being open.”

While day-users and campers are still barred from the area in the first phase of reopening, Provincial Road 307 has reopened to local traffic and business (including resort stays), and cottage and homeowners can return to Sylvia Lake, Eleanor Lake, Dorothy Lake, Nutimik Lake, Barrier Bay and Otter Falls as water levels in the Winnipeg River basin are slowly receding.

Park closures remain in effect in the Betula Lake area.

While the cabins at Barrier Bay Resort weren’t affected by flooding, one of the docks is completely destroyed and the waterfront is deeply eroded. Repairs can’t be done right now, because the grass is so soft it’s impossible to get machinery on top of it without causing further damage.

“For us, we’re almost fully booked all the way to September. I’m optimistic that it’ll be OK,” he said. “As long as the water doesn’t go back, we’ll be open for business.”

Whiteshell Cottagers Association president Ian Baragar called it an exciting day for those who had been forced to leave weeks ago.

“We’ve been putting pressure on the park (officials) and were very eager to try to get back in for a number of days now, waiting for this day,” he told the Free Press before heading out to his own cottage in Florence Lake. “So I would say we’re jubilant to be able to get back into the north Whiteshell.”

His cottage has water damage to its dock and he said he was rushing down to begin repairs. While there’s excitement amongst the Whiteshell community, there’s many fearful and unsure of what they’ll see when they return to their cottages and homes.

“People are worried and anxious. When you arrive at your cottage and you see what’s happened, it’s devastating for people and it takes a little time to get over that,” he said.

Despite seeing “levels of destruction we’ve just never seen before,” Baragar said, owners facing expensive repairs are falling between the gaps of provincial support because cottage damages aren’t covered by flood insurance as they’re not principal residences, and aren’t eligible for disaster recovery funding.

“That is something we in the Whiteshell are challenging,” he said.

“We’re challenging for exceptions to be made, if possible, with the government or any types of assistance that comes in. It runs in the face of what insurance is all about and disaster assistance.”

When asked if the province had any plans to offer any sort of financial aid to lodges and outfitters, a spokesperson repeated that disaster financial assistance isn’t available to cottagers.

“The Manitoba government sympathizes with citizens whose cottage properties have been damaged due to flooding this year,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Some families are holding off returning regardless of the reopening. Brent Johnson and his family have owned a cottage in Otter Falls for over a decade, but after spending 11 days building a six-foot dike around their home a month earlier they’re hoping the cottage has withstood the worst of it.

“Access is still very difficult because of the amount of water that’s there,” he said. “We’ve just made the decision that there’s no point in us going out.”

There are fellow cottagers with worse damage to their buildings who will be rushing to get out over the weekend, he said, adding that in his 12 years of staying at the cottage, there had never been anything close in scale to this flood.

“I’m crossing all my digits that the province will recognize the sheer scale, the massive scale of damage. It’s going to take years to clean up and repair.”

Another Otter Falls cottager, Tim Dumore, said the road he and his family uses to get to their cabin is still under water. While he imagines they could reach it by walking, his family has chosen to wait it out.

“As soon as we can get up there, we’d love to survey the situation, and then we’ll see,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s minimal.”

He’s hoping to get out within the next few weeks if the water recedes.

“It’s a first-world problem, but it kind of sucks,” he said.

“We were looking forward to spending time at the cottage as we do, and this year it’s been delayed again.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca