Manitoba not expected to see much flooding in early 2018

The province is optimistic about this spring’s flooding chances.

Manitoba’s Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said there’s a low risk of major, widespread flooding for most of the province this year.

He said what crews are keeping an eye on is flooding from ice jams, because ice was thicker than normal this year.

“Ice thickness is above normal on many of our rivers, and ice jam-related flooding could be an issue,” Minister Schuler said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Ice thickness is above normal on many of our rivers, and ice jam-related flooding could be an issue," Minister Schuler said.

“Because we had so many weeks of very cold weather and low snowfall, we do anticipate we could have a problem with ice jams because as it breaks up there could be bigger ice chunks and we’ve seen that before, not just on the Red River but on other tributaries.”

READ MORE: Risk of spring floods in 2018 — low: Manitoba infrastructure minister

He said his department is well aware of where the typical sticking points are for ice jams, and workers are already on higher risk sites across the province.

“The ice jam mitigation program on the north Red River has completed 28 kilometres of work, and the crews will be sent to other rivers and the Portage Diversion,” Minister Schuler said.

He also mentioned PTH 75, the relatively flood-prone highway south of Winnipeg connecting to the United States, which is expected to stay open throughout the spring.

Minister Schuler anticipates the Portage Diversion will be used to help with ice control for the Lower Assiniboine River as well as to minimize downstream flows from the river in bad weather.

The only region where flood risks are moderate is in northern basins, such as the Churchill, Carrot and Saskatchewan Rivers.