Manitoba Province Declares State of Emergency

by in Americas

On Friday 4 July 2014 Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger declared a provincial state of emergency for Manitoba as a result of the surge of flood water heading towards the province from Saskatchewan. The water heading toward the province is higher than predicted and Selinger believes the floods, which were caused by torrential rain across Saskatchewan over 1 week ago, could be worse than 2011.

The state of emergency will allow Manitoba to call on Canadian military to build up flood defences and protect homes and property. Hundreds of homes along the Assiniboine River are currently under threat.

Controlled Breaks in Dikes

Manitoba is preparing to deliberately flood an area of land to help ease pressure on vulnerable dikes. Officials will make a “controlled cut” some over the weekend in some dikes that are currently struggling to hold back the swollen Assiniboine River. The controlled cut aims to ease the flood threat overall, but at the same time will put around 150 homes at severe risk of flooding, and likley flood several hundred square kilometres of land.

Evacuations Increase

Since the flooding first struck last weekend, over 300 people have been evacuated from their homes in Saskatchewan and 698 people in Manitoba.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall will ask the federal government for an advance of $100 million for flood disaster relief.

Flood water appears to be receding across the province, although lakes in the Qu’Appelle Valley are still expected to reach record highs in the coming days. This is in fact one of the few areas in Saskatchewan where water levels continue to rise.

More Severe Weather

More severe weather has been reported in the prairies since the flooding first began. Hailstorms and heavy rain fell in some areas over the last 24 hours, and tornadoes have been reported in some parts of Saskatchewan.