Flood fighting continues in parts of western Manitoba.
And with precipitation warning on the spot due to the meteorological system, which is expected to bring 30 to 40 millimeters by Friday morning, people in the southwestern city of Minedosa were frantically rubbing sand and pumping water during Thursday’s torrential storm as the Little Saskatchewan River rose.
Lisa Bilkowski, coordinator of volunteers for emergency social services in Minedosa, said about 1,000 volunteers had come from all over to help.
She said that so far, about 50,000 sandbags have been filled and arranged in the community, about 200 kilometers west of Winnipeg.
The volunteers included people from nearby Hutterite colonies and other communities, and even a geography teacher and eight students from the Roblin community, about 150 kilometers northwest.
On Wednesday alone, about 200 people came to the rescue, Bilkovski said.
Lisa Bilkowski, coordinator of volunteers for emergency social services in Minedosa, says the city still needs more volunteers to help the sandbag. (Gilbert Rowan / Radio Canada)
“Our community is coming to the table. We are incredibly grateful for that. “
But crews are getting tired, she said, calling for more help in fighting the flood.
WATCH Flood response in Minedosa:
Flood fighting continues in western Manitoba
With a warning of precipitation before the meteorological system, which is expected to reach 30 to 40 millimeters by Friday morning, people in the city of Minedosa, Man., Are raining sand and pumping water during torrential rains as the Little Saskatchewan River rises on Thursday.
“We have been doing this for several days,” Bilkowski said. “People are getting tired. People are getting sick. People have their own jobs to return to, don’t they?”
Volunteers who want to help have been asked to come to the city’s landscaping workshop, according to a post on the city’s Facebook page.
Volunteers are currently using sandbags to strengthen dikes on the north and south sides of the river to hold back water from nearby homes and businesses.
In an update later Thursday night, the city said river levels had stabilized after rising seven centimeters after two logs were removed from Minedosa Dam. There are no plans to download additional logs, the update said.
The city said it would continue to pump, monitor and re-evaluate water levels at night.
Depending on its heavy rains until the morning and how stable the existing mitigation efforts are, the city plans to continue filling sandbags, fortifying two areas of larger sand dunes and placing some sandbags around culverts and rain canals.
Pumping and hydro-evacuation operations will also continue, the update said.
Flood crews will need about 40 to 50 volunteers to show up at the landscaping store at 8 a.m. Friday.
Homeowners fear more water
For homeowners such as Minedosa resident Heather Hamilton, fears of more floods are still on the mind.
Hamilton said she had done everything possible to protect her home from flooding.
Minedos resident Heather Hamilton says she did everything she could to protect her home from flooding. But the sandbag dike she, her family and volunteers had built was not high enough for the rising waters. (Travis Holby / CBC)
But the sandbag dike she, her family and volunteers worked on to build was not high enough. Now her basement, like many others on her street, is flooded – and soon her family has finally completed flood repairs in 2020.
They have been able to hold water for about an inch with two pumps running, but if one shuts off, the water quickly rises to knee level, she said.
“Suddenly we’re here again,” said Hamilton, who has lived in her home for about 20 years.
We will have to demolish our basement again.
More help has already arrived in the community, with heavy machinery placing large sandbags between homes such as Hamilton and the Little Saskatchewan River.
And volunteers like Austin Taylor didn’t let the torrential rain stop them from piling up more sandbags on their own.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s just nice to see everyone coming out,” said the 12th-grader, who has been volunteering to fight the flood since Monday.
12th grader Austin Taylor is among those who spend the week in sandbags in Minedosa. (Travis Holby / CBC)
The prime minister visits the flooded city
City officials also heard from Prime Minister Heather Stephenson and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Pivnuk on Thursday.
The province has already released some pressure on Minedosa Dam, which is raising the city’s water level – but may need to be released even more.
“This is a very serious situation. We take all this very seriously. We are here to support the community here in any way,” Stephenson told a news conference.
Manitoba Prime Minister Heather Stephanson and Minnedos Chief Administrative Officer Jim Doppler are pictured at a press conference on Thursday. (Gilbert Rowan / Radio Canada)
Minedosa Chief Administrative Officer Jim Doppler also spoke with provincial officials, saying the city is ready for the extra water it is expected to receive.
Doppler said flood teams are still working to strengthen dikes in some parts of the city in case water levels rise with rainfall. But at the moment there are no worries about the dam itself.
“It’s all about managing the flow of water and, of course, how well our dikes can handle that flow,” Doppler said.
“We’re doing a little reinforcement just so we don’t have any problems.”
Pivnyuk said once the water falls, it may be time to consider improving flood mitigation infrastructure.
“Every time we see a flood, there’s always something we can improve, isn’t there?” He and Stephanson said.
“Each flood is radically different from the next. And because [of] our uniqueness, because of the snow we had, [and] the rain, we need to see what we need to invest in. “
Hamilton said she felt further measures, as if larger sandbags had arrived too late to save her home. She wanted to see more permanent flood protection that could withstand similar floods in the future.
“It’s scary,” she said. “Something needs to be done. Something needs to be fixed. We can’t live like this anymore.”
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