Reflections on the ‘Flood of the Century’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/05/2017 (3376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was just around this time of year, with young leaves exploding on the tree branches and wildly fluctuating temperatures, that the ‘Flood of the Century’ hit this city, 20 years ago.

I live in West Kildonan, a block from the Red River. Scotia Street, which runs along the riverbank, is raised on a dike, built after the previous devastating flood in 1950. 

In that year, long before I was born, my house apparently flooded up to the second floor. My elderly neighbours remember that flood and when it looked like the 1997 flood would be just as bad, they packed up and left. 

My husband and I, with our then one-year-old son, stayed to help with the fight against the implacable water. We had no idea what a Manitoba flood looked like, having moved to Canada only three years previously.

My husband moved all our pictures to the second floor, installed a backup valve and sump pump and took on baby duty while I went out to the dike and helped with the sandbagging. 

The houses on the river side of the Scotia dike were very much in danger. We built tall walls, three metres high or more, and prayed they would hold. Fortunately, they did. It was close — the addresses where we nearly lost the fight are burned into my memory.

After the flood, some of that sand was turned into permanent dikes in those vulnerable back yards. Some people grumbled about the change to their landscaping and their views of the river but the city was not taking no for an answer.

I remember the many different people who came out to heave sandbags on that dike. Not all of them were from the area — volunteers were out in force, from all over the province, even before the army arrived to provide more help. 

There is now a pretty little playground and park on Scotia Street that was not there before — Volunteer Park. Its commemorative plaque is part of the Scotia-St. Cross Heritage Walk, which I highly recommend.

As the current devastation in Quebec and British Columbia reminds us, our little world can be upended by the awesome forces of nature in a heartbeat. We should not take our safety for granted.

Hadass Eviatar is a community correspondent for West Kildonan. Check out her blog at: http://hadasseviatar.com/blog/