Saturday, April 30, 2022, 8:12 pm – The rain is expected to continue on the night from Saturday to Sunday, worsening the flood conditions
As Manitoba experiences its third consecutive weekend of challenging weather, some households are being evacuated due to rising floods, exacerbated by torrential rains and wet land.
In the rural municipality of Richot, south of Winnipeg, 88 households have been asked to evacuate their homes outside the ring dike. So far, only 10 households have been evacuated, Mayor Chris Yuen said.
Their homes are on low-lying roads, and if the water gets too high, it could be difficult to leave or emergency services to reach them, he said.
“We want to make sure that when you receive this evacuation order, you really take into account … your quality of life and your family members and what it means to stay at home,” Ewan said in an interview Saturday.
Joel Lemoine is working with a number of other members of the community to help monitor the floods just north of Ste. Agatha. (Radio Canada)
But families do not know how long they could be away from home if they leave, nor does the mayor of RM.
“I wish I could predict the weather and see what happens in the next few days, but it can be anywhere from 12 hours of anxiety to a few weeks, depending on the severity of the situation,” Ewan said.
Just outside Ste. Agathe, located in Ritchot’s RM, crews slept in their vehicles at night, with each member taking turns monitoring pumps and other equipment to ensure everything went smoothly.
“In the next week or two, we will probably still be watching to make sure the Red River does not exceed its capacity,” and keep an eye on the community’s dike, said Joel Lemoine, who lives in the city.
The crews stand guard on the dike north of Ste. Agatha on Saturday. (Radio Abdelsadok / Radio Canada)
Southwest of Richot, the city of Morden declared a local state of emergency on Saturday as rising water levels forced dozens of people to flee their homes.
Further north, the Fisher River Cree nation, on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, was also in a state of emergency.
This was announced on Friday due to fears that rainfall this weekend will lead to a significant risk of flooding, the First Nation said in a social media post.
Chief David Crate says seven homes have been directly affected by the floods and one household has been evacuated as access to the road is rapidly deteriorating.
“The water has risen in the river about a meter since last night and the other problem we have, of course, is the rain now,” he said. “Now we’re getting floods on land.”
Crete says Indigenous Services Canada and the neighboring Peguis First Nation community have provided the Fisher River with inflatable Tiger dams, which we hope will help the flood-prone community.
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