Manitoba is already facing a bill in the “tens of millions” to fix damages caused by ongoing flooding across the province this spring, officials say.
Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk says the top priority once flood waters recede will be making sure Manitobans have access to properties and emergency vehicles can get to where they’re needed.
From there, Piwniuk said the province can look at making permanent repairs and improvements to infrastructure to protect from future flooding.
“We’re having crises right now, but we can learn from all these floods that we’ve had,” he said following a tour of flood damage in the Interlake Thursday morning.
Provincial officials estimate there are already nearly 2,000 sites identified across the province where repairs will be needed.
That includes repairs to roadways the province has proactively cut in an effort to let water flow and prevent it from backing up onto properties.
Piwniuk said the province will look rebuilding the roads with flood mitigation in mind, which could mean building new bridges.
“We’ll definitely look … and see what happened during these events, and then find out what we need to do and if it has to be that we have to invest in bridges, we’ll do that,” he said.
Transportation and Infrastructure Deputy Minister Sarah Thiele said the province is already facing “tens of millions” worth of work.
But, with water levels still high and overland flooding still an issue for much of the province, she added that number will likely grow.
“We’re still assessing it. We still have areas that are underwater that we can’t look at yet, so it will be a significant recovery program,” she said.
Thiele said Manitoba will work with the federal government through its Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program to help with the cleanup.