Manitoba to examine flood controls

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government is launching a review of the operating guidelines for some of its major flood-fighting structures.

The Portage Diversion, the Red River Floodway and the Fairford Water Control Structure will be reviewed to set up new rules governing how and when they can be used, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton said.

The government came under fire in 2011 from some rural and lakefront property owners who said they were flooded by the operation of the Portage Diversion in order to reduce the risk to Winnipeg and other communities east of the diversion.

The review will include public consultations in the affected region, as well as along the Red and Assiniboine rivers, Ashton said.

Ashton also released a consultant’s report on the 2011 flood that says the flood would have been much more severe without the anti-flood structures.

The emergency measures the province took, including expanding the Portage Diversion, prevented about $300 million in damage farther to the east and into Winnipeg, the report by KGS Group says.