Flooding continues across Manitoba as communities throughout the province continue to shore up protective efforts — and in some cases, bail out already damaged properties.
Clint Masse, owner of popular St. Adolphe-area attraction A Maze in Corn, told 680 CJOB’s The Start he’s they’re doing the best he can under the circumstances.
“The washrooms, they’ve got six inches of water in them. The pumpkin barn, where you buy pumpkins, the floor is about half-covered. The welcome centre has got about four inches of water in it,” Masse said.
“This is about where we want it to stop. It’s taken a ton of energy to get everything empty and quote-unquote ready for the flood.”
So far, at least, Masse said his home remains dry, but it’s a constant job to check and make sure things stay that way
“The first thing you do in the morning is you check. You say, ‘Is that culvert still sealed?’ We’ve got some pumps, because there’s a little bit of seepage, and you cross your fingers.
“That’s why evacuating everybody completely when you’re in a ring dike situation like us is difficult.
“You kind of have to have a boat and keep boating back and forth in just to make sure your pumps are going and you don’t have any big surprise breaches.”
In the city of Winnipeg, 27 private properties are currently at risk of river flooding.
The city said Tuesday that the Red River’s peak is expected between May 11 and 14 at the floodway inlet, and although the province is operating the floodway as well as the Portage diversion to manage city water levels, there are some properties that remain at risk.
Of those properties, 17 have been told by city officials that they should have a dike built by Friday, while the 10 others are being advised to build a dike as needed. Instructions are being provided to owners of the affected properties directly.
The city said it anticipates the need for around 29,000 sandbags.
Across the Canada/U.S. border in North Dakota, which often serves as advance notice for what’s coming to Manitoba as far as the Red River is concerned, high water levels continue to cause issues, but not — so far, anyway — at historic levels.
Grand Forks public official John Bernstrom says the city has already seen the Red River crest three or four times this spring.
“In Grand Forks this morning, our river currently sits at just over 45 feet,” Bernstrom told 680 CJOB.
“Just to give some perspective, our flood stage is 28 feet. In 1997, we got to 54 feet, so we’re below that level.”
The water is already affecting city infrastructure, he said, with two of the three bridges in Grand Forks that cross the Red out of commission.
“We have three bridges that cross the Red here in Grand Forks…. We’re down to one. We’re going to be down to one bridge for a while.
“We’re good with where the water’s at and we just want it to start going down. We need to not so much catch up, but just get through this thing here.”