Manitoba Flood

[farmers_son]

Was reading about the flooding in Manitoba and how the towns and cities are protectedy by dikes but rural properties have been flooded.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of the situation there? Is it really the second worst in a 100 years? The CBC said the river was 19 kilometers wide in places.

[kato]

Yes it really is that bad. South of Winnipeg, though, most farmyards are diked as well. After the flood in 97 they brought in rules that everyone should be protected at 97 levels plus 2 feet. The farms that are diked are pretty much isolated now though, and lots can only be reached by boat.

We're still hearing road reports on the radio like in the winter, but they're all about which roads are under water.

The biggest damage from this flood has been from ice. Especially north of Winnipeg. Houses have been hit by blocks of ice half their size, and lots of damage has been done there. That's an area that gets the occasional flood, so they're not quite as ready for it as those in the south, where it happens all the time. These ice jams have been pretty spectacular. They happen really fast, and aren't giving anyone time to get out of the way. The people north of the city are also north of the floodway, so don't get any benefit at all from it. In fact, they get all the water at once instead of only half of it like in the city.

And all this water is heading for a frozen lake. So the people closest to the lake are feeling it a lot.

We don't live near the Red River valley, so we miss a lot of the excitement. That's fine with us. It is starting to go down slowly though, so hopefully it will be over soon.