WINNIPEG – The Rural Municipality of St. Andrews is warning residents to prepare for flood-related evacuation.
In a newsletter from the RM, which is north of Winnipeg, residents were asked to “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
People in evacuation areas were asked to have personal belongings packed in case of an evacuation.
“We’ve got hot zones that people will be evacuated (from) every year,” said Darcy Hardman, St. Andrews’ emergency co-ordinator. “It doesn’t take them long to get out of there.”
The RM’s emergency operations centre is already open. It’s distributing empty sandbags to the public – people have to get their own sand – and it has Tiger tubes and pumps available for emergency use.
One area with about 50 homes is evacuated every year, and there are a few homes on Breezy Point Road that could be evacuated.
Ice jams cause the flooding in St. Andrews, Hardman said. When an ice jam forms, it’s monitored 24 hours a day so residents can be warned as soon as it threatens their home.
Evacuated residents are usually only out of their homes for 48 hours, or until the jam clears, Hardman said.
Right now, the municipality is steaming culverts and cleaning ditches in preparation for the thaw.
“So far, the ice hasn’t started breaking up or moving,” Hardman said. “We’re just waiting to react.”
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