Kinew tours western Manitoba amid flooding

Premier Wab Kinew will be touring the Parklands region Wednesday after the area was slammed by rain and extensive overland flooding.

Kinew is set to visit Swan River and Minitonas to assess the damage left by a one-in-a-200-year rain event that left hundreds without power.

The provincial Emergency Management Organization has been mobilized to co-ordinate the response and workers from the transportation and infrastructure department were assessing damage in the region.

The Town of Swan River and Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman declared states of emergencies earlier this week after the communities flooded and stranded many in their homes.

Wild weather leaves thousands of Manitobans without power, spawns tornado, widespread damage

Many Manitobans were mopping up, repairing damage or filing insurance claims Wednesday after wild storms spawned at least one tornado, dropped baseball-sized hail, flooded basements and left tens of thousands without electricity.

A tornado touched down near Ste. Anne and about 255 millimetres of rain — more than a month’s worth — flooded areas in Stonewall, while severe weather pounded southern and central parts of Manitoba Tuesday and early Wednesday morning.

“The interesting thing is the duration of the event and the really super intense precipitation,” said Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor. “It’s not typical for us to see this kind of duration of thunderstorms.”

Some rural municipalities, including St. Andrews and West Interlake, declared states of local emergency due to overland flooding, overwhelmed sewer systems and/or power outages, following Tuesday’s storms.

In photos: Swan River flooding

The town of Swan River has declared a state of emergency after floodwaters crept into the town Monday night.

Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson provided the Free Press with following photos depicting the community underwater.

Storm swamps southern Manitoba

Quinn Cove was rushing home to Ste. Anne from Winnipeg when she said the sky turned a shade of blue she had never seen.

She caught a glimpse of a massive storm as she drove on the Trans-Canada Highway near the turnoff to Highway 12. The storm triggered weather alerts in several communities in southern Manitoba Tuesday.

“The sky was like a turquoise blue, which I have never seen before. It was very bizarre,” she said.

Cove, who was one of a few people who pulled over to the side of the road to take in the sight, said the storm clouds were in a funnel formation, but she never saw it touch the ground. The system was moving in a circular pattern.

City’s rushed bylaw approving Granite housing project flawed, curling club’s lawyer argues in court

The City of Winnipeg has unfairly rushed forward a hotly debated housing project for the Granite Curling Club’s parking lot “at lightning speed,” a court was told Tuesday.

Nearly 8 million cigarettes worth $3.1M seized

As much as $3.1 million in illegal cigarettes was seized and two men were arrested last month during one of the largest busts of its kind in Manitoba.

Cartons containing 7.8 million cigarettes were found inside a semi-trailer when it was inspected by an officer from the provincial government’s motor carrier enforcement unit at the West Hawk Lake weigh station May 29, said RCMP, who took over the investigation.

“It ranks among the larger contraband tobacco seizures we’ve seen in Manitoba in recent years,” motor carrier enforcement Chief Kevin Mantie said Tuesday.

“While not necessarily the single largest, it is substantial. It reflects the scale of the illicit market and the level of organized activity behind it.”