Winnipeg Kiosk

The appeal for volunteers to fight the rising Red River is growing more urgent in Manitoba. with the weather is expected to warm this week.

Hundred of volunteer sand-baggers turned out Sunday to help protect property along the river north of Winnipeg, where ice jams are causing concern. The jams act like dams, clogging the river and causing the water to back up, spilling over the banks.

Paul Guyader, emergency co-ordinator for the rural municipalities of West St. Paul and St. Andrews, is pleading for volunteers to fill sandbags, help build dikes, and direct trucks carrying sandbag loads.

Approximately 25 homes have been flooded in those areas because of the river itself or surface water unable to drain through frozen culverts. Another 12 homes have been flooded in the RM of St. Clements, while City of Winnipeg officials estimate there could be about 80 properties at risk within the city limits.

Affected homeowners have been advised to make their sandbag dikes higher.

Usually, most properties in Winnipeg and the rural municipalities are protected from rising river levels by the floodway, which redirects the water through a 48-kilometer channel between St. Norbert and Lockport.

It can’t do anything, though, when ice is causing sections of river inside those protected areas to rise so quickly.

Consequently, everyone who lives along the riverbanks is advised to secure any structures such as docks, sheds, and recreational equipment.

A main problem area in Winnipeg continues to be at the La Salle Hotel on Nairn Avenue, where hundred of sandbags have been piled to try to protect the building.

Currently, the Red River is 16.7 feet above normal winter ice conditions and forecasters say a peak of 20.5 feet could occur in the city by next Friday if the Red River Floodway is not in operation.

No relief from the floodway yet

Conceived and constructed in the 1960s by the government of Duff Roblin to prevent a recurrence of the devastating 1950 flood, the floodway has been credited by provincial authorities with saving Winnipeg 20 times between 1968 and 1999.

However, it can’t provide any relief from the rising Red just yet. The gates can’t be opened until the jams and large pans of ice have flowed further north from the gates.

“If we operate now, we can get ice jamming going into the floodway, jamming up against the St. Mary’s bridge,” said Manitoba Water Stewardship spokesman Steve Topping. “As such, the floodway capacity would be reduced and would cause higher water levels in the city of Winnipeg.”

The unseasonably colder weather that moved into the province March 26 has further solidified the ice jams, say officials. That means the large one near Lockport and the floodway gates did not move over the weekend.

‘It is sort of buying us some time, because at the next point north, we have another ice jam by Mapleton, and then we have solid ice right up to the mouth of the river.’— Paul Guyader

However, the cold has provided respite in other ways. It has slowed the flow of the Red River, which has not been backing up as quickly as it had been during the middle of last week, when flash flooding over the banks prompted several communities north of Winnipeg to declare states of emergencies.

Guyader says the fact the ice jam is not moving now may prevent future ice jams down the river.

“It is sort of buying us some time, because at the next point north, we have another ice jam by Mapleton, and then we have solid ice right up to the mouth of the river,” he said.

The Red River, which flows north from the United States into Manitoba, empties into Lake Winnipeg.

“We still have our Amphibex working at Selkirk north of Sugar Island, breaking ice. The more we can get broke before that stuff moves, the better chance we can move the whole works right up to the lake,” said Guyader.

The Amphibex Excavator is best described as a floating backhoe that can break up solid ice and ice jams. The province has two of them that have been working nearly non-stop for the past week.

Triple-whammy could impact flood levels

If the ice jams don’t begin to budge anytime soon, there could be a triple-whammy of flooding on the way, say officials.

Once the warmer start thawing the thinner ice that has slowed the river flow, the water is going to back up quickly against the ice jams. As well, frozen drains and culverts are going to prevent surface water from leaving.

Last week, the city received about 15 centimetres of fresh snow, and flurries are also being forecast for the middle of this week.

‘We’ve got two or three more weeks of this and I know we need to take better care.’—Steve Strang

Those issues will be exacerbated if they are not resolved before the arrival of the Red River crest, which is making its way north from the Dakotas. It is anticipated to crest in Winnipeg around April 12.

With all of that in mind, Guyader says sand-baggers are needed to build dikes for as many riverfront properties as possible. And there is no better time than right now, while the situation is in a holding pattern, he said.

Reinforcements are also needed to give the current volunteers a breather. The mad-scramble effort to sling sandbags is beginning to take a toll on volunteers and public works crews, said St. Clements Mayor Steve Strang.

“We’ve got two or three more weeks of this and I know we need to take better care,” he said. “But I think that if we can get through this hurdle and have enough sandbags and things ready, the municipalities and the province can deal with the rest.”

Volunteers and food needed

Volunteers who want to aid the effort north of Winnipeg are asked to drive to the parking lot in Lower Fort Garry, where shuttle buses will transport them to the sites.

Guyader is also seeking donations of food for the volunteer troops. Anyone generous enough to provide food is asked to call 204-481-0739 so the delivery can be coordinated to various areas.

Volunteers can also call the same number to find out where they are needed most. People who need sandbags are asked to call 204-492-8689.

Portage Diversion taking off some pressure

Manitoba’s water stewardship minister says the provincial government has begun diverting water from the Assiniboine River into the Portage Diversion.

The Portage Diversion redirects some of the flow of water in the Assiniboine to a 29-kilometer long diversion channel that empties into Lake Manitoba.

Christine Melnick, the provincial minister of water stewardship, said that will help water to flow better and takes some pressure off the Red River.

The diversion is handling one thousand cubic-feet-per-second of water from the Assiniboine.

Roseau River F.N. nearly empty

Nearly every home in Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has been evacuated.

There are about 800 people who live in the community at the junction of the Roseau and Red rivers, just north of Emerson, Manitoba’s border town with the United States. As of Monday, only 96 people remained.

This article was originally posted by CBC News - March 30, 2009