Dauphin Lake
Strong winds caused a massive ice shift early Friday evening on Dauphin Lake, resulting in ice pushing up onto Ochre Beach along the southwest shore of the lake in the Rural Municipality of Ochre River. A total of 27 properties were impacted by the ice. Eight of those were permanent residences.
The municipality continues to manage this incident with support from the province.
Work is continuing to clear ice away from structures. More severely damaged properties will need to be secured and assessments conducted.
Lake ice wind alert
Ice is beginning to break up and melt on most of Manitoba’s large lakes. High winds can move broken or weakened ice around the lake, creating a risk of ice pileup on windward shores.
Residents are reminded to remain alert to weather conditions and to monitor news media for warnings.
Moderate southeast winds are forecast for this afternoon for much of southern Manitoba. This will result in a low risk of shoreline ice pileup on the windward shores of major lakes including lakes Winnipeg, St. Martin, Manitoba and Winnipegosis, and Dauphin Lake.
Strong southwest winds will shift to northwest tomorrow afternoon creating a high risk of shoreline ice pileup on the windward shore of Lake Manitoba. There is a moderate-high risk of shoreline ice pileup on windward shores of Lake Winnipeg and Dauphin Lake. There is a moderate risk of shoreline ice pileup on the windward shores of lakes St. Martin and Winnipegosis.
Red River
The Red River is declining along most points.
Levels at James Avenue are at approximately 17.5 feet. Levels and flows in Winnipeg have stabilized.
Assiniboine River
Flows on the upstream portion of the Assiniboine River basin in Saskatchewan continue to contribute water to the Shellmouth Reservoir but are declining steadily.
Flows on the Qu’Appelle River are stable.
The Portage Diversion continues to operate as per established protocols. Flows on the diversion have been constant at about 4,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) while flows on the Assiniboine River downstream of Portage la Prairie are at 6,600 cfs.
Over the next week, flows downstream of the Portage Diversion will be slowly increased which may result in flows up to 10,000 cfs at Headingley. These flows on the lower Assiniboine River will be comparable to the flows in the summer of 2012.
