Manitoba Water Stewardship advises the gates to the Red River Floodway were lowered at approximately 9:30am yesterday, as there is no longer a need to redirect water from the Red River into the diversion system.
Following the floodway’s rules of operation, the gates were raised on March 28 and were closely managed to maintain natural water levels on the Red River at the entrance to the floodway channel during the spring flood.
Spring peak levels for most locations on the Red River were lower than predicted in the mid-March flood outlook, when it appeared a 2006 magnitude flood could occur with normal weather conditions. The flood turned out to be very similar to 2001. The crest at Emerson was close to what had been predicted for lower-decile weather conditions, while crests from Morris to St. Adolphe were about 0.6 metres (two feet) below the lower-decile forecast issued in mid-March.
The lower crests resulted from unusual weather in mid-March and April including an early, gradual melt and well-below-average precipitation in most of southern Manitoba. Timing of run off was also very favourable as most Manitoba tributaries crested long before the crest from the United States reached Emerson.
Crests were somewhat higher than predicted in the St. Norbert area and from Selkirk to Breezy Point, due to ice jams. Flooding of low-lying lands and roads occurred in the Breezy Point and Petersfield areas, but no homes were flooded. Flooding in the Breezy Point area has occurred in 10 of the past 15 years, most often due to ice jams. Following serious ice-jam-induced flooding in 2009, the province offered buyouts to owners of affected cottages and homes in the highest-risk areas of the RM of St. Andrews along Breezy Point Road and in the RM of St. Clements along St. Peters Road. Most of the homes and cottages in question have been removed and the area decomissioned.
Major transportation routes such as PTH 75 and PR 200 remained open. Disruptions of local transportation due to flooded municipal roads were minor. Significant over-bank flooding was limited to the portion of the Red River from Letellier to Morris and along the Marsh River, which conveys spillover flows from the Red River near Letellier. The community ring dikes at Emerson, St. Jean Baptiste, St. Adolphe and Morris were partially closed but access to the communities was maintained.
The province’s ice-jam mitigation program saw the cutting of ice covering 26 kilometres of the Red River from the Netley Cut, south to the East Selkirk Bridge. The Amphibex icebreakers were also employed to open an 18 km-long channel for the passage of ice to Lake Winnipeg.
The level of the Red River in downtown Winnipeg is 4.6 m (15 ft.) this morning, still about 2.7 m (nine ft.) higher than the normal summer level. It is expected to decline quite rapidly to the walkway level of 2.6 m (8.5 ft.) by May 1, based on continued dry weather.
Operation of the Portage Diversion, to help reduce river levels in Winnipeg, could continue until about April 26.
Manitoba Water Stewardship has issued updated flood reports for rivers and streams and the latest reports are available at www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship.
