Volunteers rush to raise dikes in Brandon, as roughly 1,500 people have been put on evacuation notice after learning the Assiniboine River isn’t going down, but up.
They thought they were safe, then the province realized a gauge reading in Saskatchewan on the Qu’ Appelle River was wrong, now the Assiniboine River is expected to rise two feet higher than projected.
"Having the numbers confirmed to be wrong, just means our gut was right," said Sherry Decter Hirst, Brandon mayor.
Crews have been working through the night raising the earth dike by at least two feet in order to protect hundreds of homes. More super sandbags are reinforcing dikes along 1st and 18th Streets.
Water is already lapping against the sandbag wall, and seeping through. More pumps were brought in to help keep back the water, but officials fear this battle could be lost.
"The concern is that we won’t be able to manage that and that we’ll have to close 1st St," said Brian Kayes, Brandon’s emergency management director.
In recorded history, Brandon has never seen flooding this severe. It has now surpassed 1923 flood levels and its still rising. The mayor declared this, their Flood of the Century.
"We’ve had unprecedented high water here, we’ve got lots more water coming and we’ve been basically at the flood of the century mark earlier in the week and the water keeps rising." said Decter Hirst.
Work will continue for several days in anticipation of a projected crest in a week,
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