Manitoba flood fears: 24 municipalities in states of emergency

The western Manitoba city of Brandon and 23 other communities in the province remain in states of local emergency today after overland flooding became a major concern following a weekend rainstorm.

The other communities are Archie, Arthur, Cameron, Coldwell, Cornwallis, Daly, Deloraine, Edward, Elkhorn, Hartney, Grahamdale, Miniota, Oak Lake, Pipestone, Roblin, Sifton, Siglunes, Strathclair, Virden, Wallace, Westbourne, Whitewater and Winchester.

The Brandon area received nearly 125 millimetres of rain between Friday and Sunday evening, and more is expected.

Environment Canada is calling for 10 to 15 millimetres on Monday and a 60 per cent chance of rain on Tuesday, with the skies expected to clear in the late afternoon.

"Most people think of high water [and] they think of the Assiniboine River here in Brandon, but this is overland flooding," Mayor Shari Decter Hirst told CBC News late Sunday afternoon.

"A lot of our ditches, storm sewers, retention ponds, streets are full of water."

Crews spent Sunday pumping water from retention ponds and ditches into the Assiniboine River to help alleviate some of the pressure on the city's sewer system, she said.

"Our big concern is we're almost at capacity now, so when it starts raining again — and we know it will — we want to make sure that we're ready."

A flood warning is in effect for the Assiniboine from the Shellmouth Dam to Brandon, as well as Lake St. Martin, Dauphin Lake and the Winnipeg River system.

Both Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg are under a flood watch, and the Red and Saskatchewan rivers are under high water advisories.

It's also been a windy weekend.

That was the biggest issue in the Winnipeg area, where the gusts hit 81 kilometres an hour at times. A city spokesperson said Monday that some 400 calls came in about toppled trees or branches.

Manitoba Hydro crews spent much of Sunday restoring electricity to areas that experienced outages due to branches falling on power lines.

Hydro spokesman Scott Powell said staff have been overloaded with calls throughout southern Manitoba and the Interlake region, with lines affected in both urban and rural areas.

The strongest wind, though, was measured in Brandon at 96 km/h.

Flights to and from the Brandon Municipal Airport were cancelled Sunday because overland flooding on the main access road.

But on Monday, WestJet announced that a flight to Calgary would go ahead as scheduled. Passengers on other flights are advised to check WestJet's website for updates.

Although the main road leading into the Brandon Municipal Airport (McGill Field) remains underwater and closed to public, a detour has been set up from the west, via Bloomsburry Road, which is located on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway, 1.5 kilometres west of the KK Penner tire company property.

Detour signs will be in place along the Highways 1 and 10 and airport staff will also be on site to direct traffic.

In Winnipeg, a number of flights in and out of James Armstrong Richardson International Airport were delayed or cancelled Sunday as well.

"The rain combined with the really high winds is making the runways a little bit dicey for landing on," said Felicia Wiltshire, of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

"So when something like that happens, it's up to pilots to decide if they feel comfortable or not landing on our runways. And it sounds like a lot are choosing not to land right now."

The 23 other communities under state of local emergency belong to one of six rural municipalities, including Whitehead, Cornwallis, Pipestone, Wallace, Siglunes and Grahamdale.

A number of roads in the affected municipalities have been closed or breached by overland flooding. As well, the Manitoba government has closed numerous sections of highways due to washed-out roads.

"It basically rained all night, quite heavy, and then a lot of overland flooding happening," said Bob Brown, a councillor with the RM of Cornwallis. “The culvert systems … can't handle the water."

Officials in that RM urged residents to voluntarily leave their homes on Sunday night before roads became impassable.

Residents who need to get out are asked to call the regional municipality office's at (204) 748-1239.

More rain on Monday could turn those voluntary evacuations into mandatory ones, said Reeve Don Neufeld.

As well, those evacuations could stretch south all the way to Virden, north to Elkorn, and west all the way to the Saskatchewan border, he said.

"We have a lot of infrastructure, roads that are breached and cut by the water, and it makes it difficult for [people] to get around. We would like to do that during the daylight hours rather than at night if we could," he said.

An evacuation centre has been set up in Virden and hotels are already booked in advance for flood evacuees, Neufeld said.

People in Virden worked through the night getting sandbags filled and stacked to protect homes along the creek that runs through the town.

Nicole Hunter said water backed up into her basement and the situation has been overwhelming.

"Yeah, I've had a couple of cry moments, but what can we do? We're doing all we can do, and that's all we can do," she said.

The closed highways include:

Trans-Canada Highway from Brandon to Highway 110.

Highway 3 from Pierson to the south junction of Highway 83.

Highway 21, from the north junction of Highway 23, to Highway 2.

A complete, updated list of closed roads can be found on the province's 511 website.

High water in eastern Manitoba also has people scrambling to protect property along the Winnipeg River at Otter Falls Resort.

The resort is near Seven Sisters Falls on the river, in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Lori Derksen, who owns and operates the resort with her husband, said several sections of the campground are under water.

The river is higher than anyone can remember, and crews have set out sandbags and aqua dams to protect the property.

The province has also provided sandbags to 30 cottagers around Nutimik Lake, Dorothy Lake and Eleanor Lake in the Whiteshell.

Environment Canada says the intense storm system has dumped between 75 and 124 millimetres of rain on southwest Manitoba over the weekend.

The weather agency released a list of rainfall totals, recorded between Friday and Sunday evening, in the following communities:

Deloraine — 144 mm

Virden — 137 millimetres

Pierson — 129 mm

Brandon Airport — 124 mm

Moosehorn — 119 mm

Reston — 106 mm

Neepawa — 98 mm

Eriksdale — 97 mm

Birtle — 96 mm

Dauphin — 94 mm

Hamiota — 93 mm

Forrest — 92 mm

Dauphin — 94 mm

Melita — 89 mm

Souris — 89 mm

Boissevain — 87 mm

Minnedosa — 79 mm

Shoal Lake — 78 mm

Roblin — 71 mm

Winnipeg — 50 mm

In the regional municipality of Edward, which was in a state of local emergency all weekend, residents are also worried about flash flooding across the border in southeastern Saskatchewan.

Debbie McMechan, a municipal councillor in the area, says water from swollen waterways in Saskatchewan will flow into Manitoba, adding to residents' existing worries about high rainfall amounts on this side of the border.

"We're the third-largest oil producer in the province. We have an oil industry that's been brought to a screeching halt out here," she said.

"This is a serious situation but of course, our first and foremost concerns is our people. And so, you know, when roads start to get washed out, we get very concerned about getting ambulances in and out."

McMechan said officials have been trying to get the provincial government to address the issue for many years, but without much success.