WINNIPEG – A 2011 flood task force says another outlet needs to be built to drain Lake Manitoba faster.
Sources say that’s one of 200 recommendations to the province that will be released Friday at a news conference in Winnipeg that will be live streamed at globalnews.ca/winnipeg.
The task force, made up of engineers, reeves, mayors and residents affected by the devastating 2011 flood, spent the last 12 months interviewing hundreds of people and businesses to figure out went wrong and come up with recommendations on how the province can better protect communities from flooding.
“I expect they will make recommendations for future investments, future measures we should take to further protect people in the Assiniboine Valley, around Lake Manitoba and around Lake St. Martin as well as Brandon,” Premier Greg Selinger said.
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Rudy Kitsch was flooded out in 2011 when the province diverted record flood water from the Assiniboine River through the Portage Diversion into Lake Manitoba.
“It’s a brilliant move, long, long overdue,” Kitsch said. “I’m sure there would be a lot of people in a much more relaxed state of mind if they knew that the water outgoing was matching or keeping up to the water incoming.”
The group will also recommend the province pay farmers to not drain their fields during high flood seasons. After the snow melts, they want farmers to try to keep water on their fields instead of making drains and letting it flow to the river, causing levels to rise quicker.
“It could help prevent major floods,” RM of Richot Mayor Bob Stefaniuk said.
It will work as long as farmers are compensated for lost crops, Stefaniuk said.
“As long as the farmers don’t come out on the short end of the stick. If they can store water without having any detriment to their crops that’s fine,” he said.
The task force also recommends Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota work more closely together to prevent flooding.
Details of the report will be released at 11 a.m. at the Manitoba Legislative Building.
No changes will be made before this year’s potential flood but Selinger said the province will have to find the money to complete some of the highest-priority recommendations.
The flood of 2011 devastated communities along the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba. It cost the province more than a billion dollars. Some residents are still displaced.
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