TWIN LAKES BEACH, Man. — Every day Judy Pisclevich wakes up with the fear her home could be damaged again.
“It’s indescribable,” said the Twin Lakes Beach resident.
She has lived along Lake Manitoba her entire life. Now 68, she is living through her worst nightmare.
In 2011 her home was destroyed by water. It was rebuilt and she just moved in this past spring.
Now high waves are whipping up water again as the province pumps more and more water through the Portage Diversion and into Lake Manitoba.
“We need the lake lowered,” she said.
RELATED: 2nd Assiniboine River crest expected Tuesday to Thursday
She wants the province to build a outlet channel at the north end of the lake to take the water out.
Pisclevich has a geotube around her property but it has failed in one spot.
She hopes supersandbags will be able to withstand the waves.
The Manitoba government promised Monday that the province is moving ahead with the construction of a second outlet on Lake Manitoba that will ease flooding in the region.
Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton said the construction of a new outlet will cost at least $300 million.
The province is hoping Ottawa will pick up at least some of that tab, he said.
Officials are also providing help to areas such as Twin Lakes Beach, he said.
“We are currently mobilizing … to provide additional resources.”
The floodwater pouring into Manitoba from Saskatchewan over the past week ends up in Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg.
Manitoba spent $100 million after the 2011 flood carving out an outlet that drains water from Lake Manitoba into Lake Winnipeg.
The province is expecting a second crest of floodwater to move through the southern region this week as the province starts to focus on recovery.
The second crest has moved through Brandon and is expected to hit Portage la Prairie, where a diversion takes two-thirds of the water north to Lake Manitoba, as early as Tuesday. The protection put in place last week is expected to handle the floodwater, emergency officials said.
The province and the military will continue to vigilantly monitor the dikes along the swollen Assiniboine River to pinpoint weak spots or potential breaches, Ashton said.
The province has set up mobile recovery centres in some of the worst-hit areas and officials expect this flood will cost millions in damages to municipal roads and bridges.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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