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Strong wind could cause ice pileups: Province

Lake ice pushed by high winds off Dauphin Lake damaged or destroyed at least 27 homes on the lakefront in the Rural Municipality of Ochre River, Man., on May 10. Jordan Pearn / Global News

WINNIPEG – The province has released a wind warning for Southern Manitoba saying there is a “moderate to high” risk of shoreline ice pileups on Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, and Dauphin Lake. Lake St. Martin and Lake Winnipegosis are also listed as being at risk.

The Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation Hydrologic Forecast Centre released its latest Flood Bulletin Sunday afternoon saying northeast winds gusting up to 60 kilometres per hour could push broken or weakened ice around lakes, creating “a risk of ice pileup on windward shores”.

There were no wind warnings or watches issued by Environment Canada for Manitoba as of Sunday afternoon.

On May 10, wind gusts of 80 km/h caused ice pileups on Dauphin Lake leading to a massive ice wall destroying 12 cottages or homes and damaging 15 others at Ochre Beach.  No one was hurt, but the event prompted the Rural Municipality of Ochre River to issue a State of Emergency.

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The bulletin also warns of localized overland flooding in the Red River Valley this week due to a forecast low pressure system edging up from the United States. Although the heaviest rainfall is expected in the U.S., Environment Canada says it could bring up to 75 millimetres of rain to parts of the Red River Valley by Tuesday. The bulletin says parts of the Souris River and lower Assiniboine could see accumulations between 10 and 30 millimetres by Tuesday.

By mid-Sunday afternoon, the weather office had issued rainfall warnings for areas including Steinbach, Morden, Winkler, Emerson, and Morris saying 40 to 60 mm of rainfall were possible by Tuesday morning. Environment Canada said accumulations of 50 – 80 mm were possible for areas near the American border.

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