A number of western Manitoba communities hit hard by overland flooding earlier this week have declared states of emergency, with the threat of more rain still on the horizon.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Swan River, Minitonas-Bowsman and Swan Valley West issued the declarations due to rising water levels.
The Municipality of Roblin also advised residents in low-lying or flood prone areas to consider voluntary evacuation due to rising water levels along the Shell River.
The measure was declared in Swan Valley West because of a potential dam break in the Alpine Area, which holds back Harvey Lake.
“We’ve got a few feet of dam left there before it fails. Should it fail, that entire lake will drain into the Roaring River system, which will then further increase flood levels in Swan River Valley,” area reeve Bill Gade told CTV News.
The state of emergency notice also warned many roads and culverts are impassable and will be for a few days.
A potential dam break would take things from bad to worse in Swan River, which is already underwater.
Town mayor Lance Jacobson told CTV News flooding began Monday night after Roaring River spilled its banks in the aftermath of a vicious rainstorm the night before.
Rushing waters quickly flooded areas south of the town, which then travelled to smaller creeks that also spilled over, unable to take the deluge, he said.
“We started seeing some overland flooding in our industrial park and then started sandbagging in that area,” he said.
“Then about two hours later, roughly, we started seeing a little bit more overland flooding to the southeast corner.”
Sandbagging started in those areas late last night to protect businesses and homes.
Then around midnight, the west side of town started flooding, as well.
Dozens of homes and several businesses are impacted, he said. Town staff and volunteers have been sandbagging through the night and continued into the morning.
Jacobson said the town also declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, as the threat of more rain looms on the horizon.
Large hail, heavy rain possible in flood-impacted areas
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) warns a ‘significant severe weather outbreak’ is expected to descend on much of southern Manitoba on Tuesday afternoon, bringing a chance of large hail, tornadoes, widespread damaging winds in excess of 100 km/h and very heavy rainfall that could lead to more flash flooding.
Jacobson said he spoke with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew Tuesday morning about what’s needed to combat the waters and whatever Mother Nature serves up next.
“If we get this rain that’s potentially going to happen today, then we were requesting if the province or (Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure) would break a piece of highway that would allow some of this water to move quickly,” he said.
Provincial resources already on site: Kinew
Premier Kinew told reporters Tuesday the province has sent emergency measures staff to Swan River and surrounding communities also under water. Additionally, officials from the fire commissioner’s office are on scene should folks need to be evacuated for medical reasons.
The Prairie Mountain Health authority is also trying to ‘troubleshoot’ staffing issues at the region’s Swan Valley Health Centre given the number of washed-out roads.
Infrastructure officials are also on scene trying to alleviate flooding near Tamarack Creek, Kinew added.
“They’re on site assessing, ‘How do we pump water out of that? How do we get the water moving more quickly to hopefully bring the water levels in town back down?’” he said.
Outages, flooding continue in Minitonas
Nearby Minitonas similarly took on six inches of rain in a few short hours on Monday, which continues to upend the town.
It’s also under a state of emergency as hydro, water and communication outages stretch on. Crews needed to make repairs are having a hard time accessing the community, with road access to much of the town cut off due to wide-reaching flooding.
“We are working with Manitoba Hydro, the province, our own Public Works and Fire departments to restore services as quickly as possible,” the municipality wrote in a Facebook post.
Flooded-out roads and highways meant Manitoba Hydro workers had to be flown in Monday to access damaged poles, but they still struggled to reach the community.
Hydro said Tuesday about 450 customers are still without power in Minitonas with no estimated restoration time yet.
“We’ll know more as we work,” the Crown corporation posted on its X page.
“Elsewhere most outages have been restored but considerable work remains making full repairs including replacing poles and lines. Extra crews continue to arrive in the area, along with specialized equipment.”
- With files from CTV’s Harrison Shin and Jeff Keele
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