More storms heading to flood-hit western Manitoba

Flood-hit western Manitoba, where people were stranded on rooftops Monday and roads have been washed away, could be in for another round of heavy rain.

“Unfortunately, today there is another significant severe weather threat for the area, where there is the possibility of flash flooding once again, with potentially upwards of 100 millimetres or more of rain coming,” Keane Kokolsky, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada’s storm prediction centre in Winnipeg, said Tuesday morning.

The exact track of the storms is still a little unclear, but “all of southern Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan is under a substantial severe weather threat today,” he said.

“We’ve upgraded to an extreme risk, the highest on the scale, with modes of severe weather possible from tornadoes … large hail, damaging winds upwards of 100-130 km/h and very heavy rain.”

Up to 150 people are out of their homes after flash flooding in the municipality of Swan Valley West as communities in Manitoba’s Parkland region continue to deal with the aftermath of heavy rains Sunday.

The neighbouring Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman declared a state of local emergency on Monday, and multiple highways remain closed in the region. On Tuesday, the Town of Swan River, about 15 kilometres west of Minitonas, also declared a local state of emergency.

Meanwhile, a voluntary evacuation advisory has been issued for properties along Shell River in the municipality of Roblin. Residents in low-lying or flood-prone areas are advised to consider evacuating, the municipality posted on its Facebook page Tuesday morning.

There’s no mandatory evacuation order currently, but residents are “encouraged to monitor conditions closely and make preparations as necessary,” the post said.

Environment Canada said Minitonas received the largest amount of rainfall in the region, with about 148 millimetres of rain in only a few hours Sunday night into early Monday morning. Swan Valley got about 72 millimetres.

The rain caused rivers to swell and overflow their banks.

Many communities are dealing with power outages, with Manitoba Hydro posting on social media that “damage to our equipment is severe and some areas like Minitonas are still impossible or unsafe to access.”

The damage includes multiple spans of lines and poles down in more than 100 individual outages spread across a wide area in southwest Manitoba and the Parkland region, the Crown corporation posted. 

Minitonas is dealing with a gas line rupture, a boil water advisory and bridges that have been overtaken by water.

The Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman posted on Facebook Tuesday morning that the community is currently without communications and has intermittent water and sewer “as the system works to recover.”

Swan River has posted on its own Facebook page that sandbagging volunteers are needed as water is still rising and more rain is coming.

‘Pretty grim’: lodge owner

Cam McIntyre, owner of Wellman Lake Lodge, about 30 kilometres south of Minitonas in Duck Mountain, is scrambling to get his family and food out of the resort.

They’re not flooded, as the water flowed down from that higher elevation, but they are without power.

“I do have a generator, but I have way too much refrigeration equipment to keep it [all] powered up,” he said, adding it would be a big financial hit if the food spoils.

“I own a restaurant in Swan River, so we’re trying to get … our food down to try and save it.”

He hopes the restaurant will avoid flooding but is more concerned about the situation people are facing in Minitonas.

“[There’s] a lot of personal loss and business loss, and then those people all have cabins and they camp up here,” he said.

“A few of my friends are on the fire department, saying it’s pretty grim down there.

“We drove down yesterday morning to try to survey and try to get out but … there’s rivers and rapids flowing where there’s not supposed to be everywhere.”

McIntyre expects the storm and its fallout will “devastate” his lodge’s summer season, as most people will be focused on more pressing things than camping.

More wet weather likely to come

Premier Wab Kinew said conservation officers helped sandbag properties along the Swan River until 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Environment Canada’s Kokolsky said even after Tuesday’s storms pass through, the wet weather isn’t over.

“On the backside [it] looks like there is potentially a wraparound with this system, and some more showery weather and potentially some more thundershowers.”

He reiterated the weather models give an idea of the track of the storms, but can’t say exactly where they will hit, and the amount of precipitation is dependent on how slowly the storms move.

“Hopefully the worst of it misses them,” Kokolsky said. “But there’s a lot of moisture in the air today. These storms are going to be really loaded with precipitation.”