Everyone must plan for worst

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/01/2011 (5693 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The best guess of professional forecasters today is that Manitoba will experience a flood similar to the deluge of 2009, one of the worst in the province’s history. Any combination of circumstances, however, could turn it into an unprecedented disaster, or a non-event.

So, while it might be too early to panic and move to higher ground, it is definitely not premature to begin planning for a worst-case scenario. The province, city and municipalities across Manitoba are now engaged in such an effort, stockpiling sandbags, acquiring heavy equipment and vehicles and co-ordinating emergency services to ensure the best possible response. Even the army is part of the planning process.

It has always been difficult to know precisely how to prepare for spring in Manitoba because each experience — virtually every flood event — has been different. The 1997 flood, for example, was the classic challenge of a Red River rising and spilling its banks, nearly engulfing Winnipeg in the process. The 2009 version was different because of the thick ice jams that formed at the entrance to the Floodway and north of the city, causing water to back up and threaten residential properties and businesses.

The forecast this year is not merely about the behaviour of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, but about hundreds of smaller tributaries and drainage ditches that may swell and threaten large swaths of the province. Overland flooding in towns, cities and farmland is also a major concern.

As Water Stewardship Minister Steve Ashton said, however, the province gets stronger and wiser following each flood and there is every reason to believe that the province is better prepared today than it has ever been. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a way of throwing curve balls, which is why the challenge can never be underestimated.

Nor should the public be lulled into a false sense that government alone will solve the disaster, if and when it comes. The response to the 1997 flood was the work of many thousands of volunteers, who took time off work or used their spare time to lend their backs to the cause of fighting the flood.

The province and city are making it easier for some people to protect their homes by subsidizing the cost of sump pumps and back-up valves, but, in the end, everyone should be prepared to do their part to help their neighbours and their communities.