Yet another wet weekend in southern Manitoba means many communities continue to struggle with overland flooding.
The Red River basin saw between 40 and 50 millimetres of rainfall over the weekend, while areas of the Interlake and east of Lake Winnipeg received between 30 and 50 millimetres.
Some areas of the province have seen four to six times the normal amount of precipitation for this time of year.
Although there’s no rain in this week’s forecast going forward, the province says there may be more rising water in streams and tributaries, as the weekend’s runoff makes its way through the system.
In Morris, Mayor Scott Crick says most homes appear safe for now, but there’s still plenty of uncertainty.
“I think the biggest challenge — at least at this stage right now — is we just don’t know where the water’s going to stop,” Crick told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“Kudos to the province — I know they’ve been continually updating their forecast — but it’s very difficult guessing at what it’s going to be. The precipitation we’ve had is just not something that we’ve dealt with in a lot of years.”
Crick said most homes in the area have been raised, so he’s optimistic they’ll make it through OK.
“Fortunately, there’s very little property at risk outside of municipal infrastructure,” he said.
“I think the bigger issue is when people do need to leave their homes, because it’s just not safe for them to stay there without somebody manning pumps or things like that.
“It’s very easy for seepage … that can eventually damage their homes, so they can return to somewhat of a mess.”
The RM of Dufferin, which is under a state of local emergency, has already seen some homes evacuated, and reeve George Gray said the Boyne River rose quickly over the weekend.
“We’ve seen water, but never this quick. In this particular area, this has never been like this,” Gray told Global News.
“This particular area is outside the diversion. A diversion was built to protect Carman 30-some years ago, which has done a wonderful job.
“This happens to be outside of the diversion, and that’s just Mother Nature in the agricultural part of Manitoba.”
Gray said several homes in the area received voluntary evacuation notices.
“It’s very sad to see people dislocated because of water.
“This area has a bit of a history of flooding. I’ve never ever seen this much. They all have some form of dike and we’ve been very diligent in providing sandbags … but this was just too much water. It overcame our ability to service the river.”