Water flowing through broken dike in Manitoba

By

HOOP AND HOLLER BEND, MN. (NEWS1130) – Machines have broken through a dike holding back the Assiniboine River to deliberately flood a swath of land in southern Manitoba.

The controlled release south-east of Portage la Prairie is expected to flood 225 square kilometres and could threaten at least 150 houses.

CTV Reporter Laura Lowe is there and tells News1130 the province has run out of options, and at this point it’s a guessing game.

“The province has no idea about the topography of this area.  They don’t know how high ditches are, how high homes are… so they do not actually know where this water is going.  They can’t tell these people how high to sandbag… people are just throwing them up and saying, ‘Hopefully that works.'”

The Manitoba government has promised to set aside a special account to help people re-coup the damages to their homes.

“Out in this area… this is where a number of vegetables are grown, there are tree farms out here, so this is people’s livelihoods.”

The province says re-directing the water will prevent even more properties from being swamped further downstream.

The Assiniboine is at record levels, with emergency workers calling this a “one-in-300-year” flood.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today