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A state of local emergency has been declared in a Manitoba community that was battered by heavy rain, which led to flooding, power outages, a gas line rupture, a boil water advisory and a washed-out bridge.
About 15 centimetres of rain fell in the Minitonas area from about 9 p.m. until about 2 a.m., Environment Canada said.
“[Storms] just kept lining up with that town, over and over and over again,” said meteorologist Kyle McAuley.
There is a boil water advisory in effect as the power outage caused a loss of water pressure in the distribution system, which could compromise the safety of the water supply.
A gas line rupture also forced a partial evacuation of a Minitonas neighbourhood on Monday.
Early Monday, the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman posted a Facebook message, urging residents to shelter in place “as we work together through this event.”
Everyone in town is affected by the flooding, it said. Minitonas, about 375 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, had a population of 465 in 2021 census, Statistics Canada census data says.
The municipality Facebook page said high water levels on the East Favel River prompted the closure of the Second Avenue bridge, and Knox Avenue was also submerged.
“Please proceed with caution when navigating all other roads and water crossings,” the post said.
The landfill is closed as municipal staff concentrate on flooding-related issues.
The fire department will go door-to-door to inform people about how to handle submerged outlets, electrical panels, electronics and appliances while Manitoba Hydro works to restore power, the municipality said.
Minitonas is not alone in its flooding. Multiple highways are closed in the western part of the province, particularly in the Parkland area.
“The overnight rains kind of really inundated the ditches and all that, so a lot of bridges and streams and creeks and rivers are kind of just spilling their banks and just causing a lot of washouts or water over the road,” said Derek Trainer, head of Manitoba’s 511 network, which provides highway conditions.
Crews are putting up barricades where they can, and RCMP are assisting in some areas, he said.
“It was a pretty eventful day in southeast Saskatchewan and western parts of Manitoba and central Manitoba and the Interlake,” McAuley said. “We did have lots of very, very powerful storms.”
Along with the rain came intense winds and hail to some areas, McAuley said.
“We did have several tornado warnings, but so far, no confirmed reports of any.”
Most of the warnings were around the Swan River region, about 15 km west of Minitonas, he said.
The biggest hail reported so far was golf-ball sized in Canupawakpa Dakota Nation in the southwest corner of the province. About 25 km west in Sinclair, the winds peaked at 112 km/h, the strongest in the province.
Manitobans will get a bit of a breather from the storm activity, but not for too long, McAuley said.
“[Monday’s] going to be a pretty quiet day, but then Tuesday looks like a pretty active day starting around southwest Manitoba and then moving off to the northeast, probably going through the Red River Valley later on through the night as well,” he said.
That will bring “a good chance of lots of rotating supercell thunderstorms that may be capable of producing tornadoes. There’s a good chance there will be [weather] watches out for that.”
