Federal government commits $5.2M to shore up flood protections in Selkirk, Man.

The federal government has pledged $5.9 million to help pay for flood mitigation work in Selkirk, Man.

The funding will help the city with projects aiming to protect homes, businesses, roads, and essential infrastructure, according to federal release Monday.

“Climate change is going to have huge impacts on not only our infrastructure, but most importantly the people in our communities if we don’t make the investments needed now,” said Selkirk Mayor, Larry Johannson in the release.

“The unprecedented events that we experienced in the Creekside development and throughout Selkirk this spring will continue to happen more frequently and will further impact people’s homes and safety.

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“Selkirk, with partners, remains dedicated to investing in the sustainable infrastructure needed to mitigate these risks.”

The work will see construction of a west end storm retention pond in a new development planned west of Annie Street and south of Manitoba Avenue.

The retention pond will collect storm water to reduce the chance of overland flooding during heavy rainstorms and snowmelt runoff in the spring, the city says.

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That project will see an active transportation pathway built around the new pond and, the feds say, will continue the city’s combined sewer separation program to divide storm from wastewater sewers to reduce basement flooding and sewage backup.

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Additional work will see improvements made to existing retention ponds in the Creekside and Woodlands developments, including aeration systems and other efforts to discourage algae growth.

“The effects of climate change are apparent in severe weather events like the flooding Manitoba faced last spring, which damaged homes, forced evacuations, collapsed roads, eroded riverbanks, and closed some bridges, blocking off entire communities,” said Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and MP for Winnipeg South, in a statement.

“Investments in disaster mitigation infrastructure help provide the necessary tools to safeguard communities against the effects of climate change.”

The funding comes through the federal government’s Disaster and Mitigation Adaptation Fund.