Manitoba has forecasted a major risk of flooding along the Red River and some communities that were hit by floods last year are catching up on repairs and preparing for the potential event.
Last year, parts of the road outside Saint Adolphe were underwater and throughout the RM of Richot, culverts and roads were washed out.
The damage was not small, however. Most of the larger infrastructure repairs have been completed but there’s still work to be done, according to Chris Ewen, RM of Ritchot mayor.
“Having to clean that debris took weeks, if not months, to get it all out of the way and we still have about 35 per cent of things that we need to clean up and work on,” Ewen said.
Ewen says the municipality has racked up about $2 million worth of damage and work is still being done to make sure some farmland can drain properly.
“I know it was a significant number all in all throughout the province, but that’s still a big number for a small municipality of 7,000 residents,” Ewen said.
“It causes a lot of a lot of stress and heartache for the residents.”
However, the mayor said the forecast did come as a surprise as flooding is a threat the community is all too familiar with.
“It’s a matter of preparation for Ritchot. We have a great team behind us and we’re always making sure that we, you know, plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Meanwhile, further south, the RM of Montcalm is also catching up on repairs from floods that caused damage to nearly 300 sites.
“We still have between $10 (million) and $15 million worth of damage out there that hasn’t been fixed, so this incoming event hopefully doesn’t do very much damage and we can continue with our recovery from last year,” says Jolene Bird, CAO, RM of Montcalm.
Despite the heavy financial burden the damage caused to the community, provincial disaster financial assistance covered most of its expenses. However Coun. Paul Sabourin hopes the province can help resolve the remaining 20 to 40 per cent of repairs in case another flood should happen.
“We’re hoping that we dodge a bullet this spring and nothing happens,” Sabourin says. “It would be very frustrating to repeat the process again.”
“It’s still early, right? We’re still somewhat getting out here, so maybe the forecast might be wrong and life would be normal again.”
From the U.S. border to Winnipeg, municipalities in the Red River Valley are keeping an eye on the weather and hoping it doesn’t spell trouble.
But communities affected by Highway 75’s closure last year are concerned delays in protecting and raising it could wreak havoc on the local economy for a second year in a row.
“I know we’ve been in contact with highways. They are attempting to get the work completed this year, but it looks like it won’t be in time,” says Scott Crick, RM of Morris mayor.
“So for us, the major concern again is ensuring that if the water comes up and it is mitigated all that we can keep that highway open.”
— with files from Global’s Rosanna Hempel