Flooding follows torrential long weekend rains

THORNHILL, Man. — Rain over the weekend drenched the small community of Thornhill, Man., west of Morden.

Residents and town officials report getting 20 centimetres of rain.

“It was like a downpour here,” said resident Pat Westfall. “There’s water everywhere — it’s unbelievable.”

Officials in the rural municipality of Stanley, where Thornhill is located, are still surveying the damage but say it will take some time for the water to drain.

“Twenty centimetres is the highest that we’ve heard,” said Rick Klippenstein, the RM’s chief administrative officer.

The highest amount of rain fell on the Manitoba Escarpment and as it has flowed down, it has caused problems, Klippenstein said.

“It has really swollen our creeks and drains, and so we have a number of road closures where we have water over the road,” he said. “We expect once the water goes down that we’ll see some damage to our drains.”

In the U.S., the National Weather Service hydrograph at Neche, N.D., showed the Pembina River rose two metres from 5 a.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Unverified information from near Windygates, Man., just north of Neche, showed the river rose approximately one metre on Monday.

In Crystal, N.D., the rising Cart Creek and Park River forced evacuations, U.S. media reported. Valley News Live reported Main Street was flooded Monday night in the town of about 150 residents.

The highest amount of weekend rain reported by Environment Canada was 10 centimetres of rain that fell in Deerwood, about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

Morden had 89 millimetres from midnight Friday night until 5 a.m. Tuesday, while Sprague had 73 millimetres. Winnipeg had much less — 18 to 24 millimetres.

Here are the weekend total precipitation amounts registered by Environment Canada and Manitoba Agriculture stations from late Friday night to early Tuesday morning:

Winnipeg (airport) — 18 millimetres

Winnipeg (The Forks) — 24

Deerwood — 101 millimetres

Morden — 89

Somerset — 81

Winkler — 77

Manitou — 76

Sprague — 73

Letellier — 71

Killarney — 69

Carman — 58-68

Altona — 67

Boissevain — 62

Gretna — 58

Emerson — 55

Deloraine — 55

Morris — 54

St. Pierre — 52

Kleefeld — 46

Treherne — 41

Pilot Mound — 40

St. Adolphe — 37

Elm Creek — 37

Steinbach — 35

Souris — 33

Cypress River — 30

Glenboro — 27

Wawanesa — 25

Dugald — 24

Starbuck — 24

Melita — 20

Carberry — 18

Portage la Prairie — 18

Brandon — 16

Pinawa — 13

Gimli — 0

Dauphin — 0