The Canadian military has been asked to help prepare Manitoba’s largest First Nation community for an expected spring flood that could reach devastating levels.
“We have put out a request,” Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Thursday.
“The flood forecasting centre at the provincial level said this is going to be a potentially very threatening spring for the Fisher River area.”
The province has also advanced $1 million to Peguis so its efforts to mobilize help aren’t hampered by cash-flow issues between now and next week, when the water is expected to rise.
“Let’s make sure that anybody who can be hired to put sandbags up and protect homes can do so, [and] any sort of resources that are needed within the community can be acquired,” Kinew said.
Canada’s emergency management minister, Eleanor Olszewski, said in a social media post she approved the province’s request for help Thursday.
The federal government is deploying “humanitarian personnel,” while working closely with the First Nation and Manitoba government, she said. Olszewski said Indigenous Services Canada is providing support directly to the community.
Peguis Chief Stan Bird called on the federal government to urgently help the First Nation prepare for the possibility flooding could reach the levels of the “catastrophic” 2022 flood, asking for help from the Canadian Armed Forces.
Runoff water is expected to start flowing April 19 or earlier, Bird said during a news conference at the First Nation’s Winnipeg office on Thursday afternoon.
“There is an urgent need to mobilize the Canadian Armed Forces to Peguis First Nation,” he said. “Once the runoff starts, Peguis will only have a few days to react.”
Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre has cited a significantly above-normal snowpack, delayed melt and spring precipitation as factors in an increased flood risk in the Fisher River basin.
In its outlook on Tuesday, the centre said peak flows are likely to reach levels similar to those of 2014, if conditions remain favourable. That flood led to more than 100 people evacuating Peguis, which is about 160 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
But if unfavourable conditions arise, the levels could approach those seen in 2022, which triggered states of emergency and displaced more than 1,000 people — and some still haven’t returned home, Bird said.
“The 2022 flood … was catastrophic,” he said.
Peguis has removed the ice from the rink at the sports multiplex in preparation for flooding, Bird said.
“We’re preparing that for an area that will eventually have to house our people, because it’s our understanding that a lot of hotels in the city are filled,” he said.
A snowstorm that swept through southern Manitoba on Wednesday hit the Interlake region particularly hard, exacerbating the situation. Peguis got an estimated 20 to 25 centimetres of snow, Environment Canada said.
Hydrologist Ian Halket, who’s advising Peguis, said the storm brought more snow and further delayed the melt.
The longer spring is delayed, the more likely the melt will be sudden, Halket said.
The cold also makes preparations more complicated.
“Now we have ice in the community. Sandbags are frozen,” Halket said. “We can’t put them out for protection around the houses. The ground has to be [prepared again].”
Community members have been chipping ice away from around homes so they can prepare the ground for Tiger Dams — large inflatable dams that form temporary dikes.
“The timeline is about 10 days to get Peguis fully protected. That is not enough time,” Halket said.
“It really is an emergency because there is such a short time between now and when that floodwater arrives.”
The province expects it needs to get 1 million to 2 million sandbags to the community, Kinew told Information Radio before the news conference.
The province and Indigenous Services Canada have also been working to get a private-sector organization called Team Rubicon, which is largely made up of military veterans, to help the community, Kinew said.
Team Rubicon’s chief operating officer, Tim Kenney, told CBC News a small reconnaissance team will be arriving in the First Nation on Friday and will meet with the community’s emergency management leaders to figure out logistics.
Fifty to 100 volunteers will then be “flowing in over the weekend” to help with sandbagging efforts, Kenney said. The volunteers will be on the ground for a week to help protect dozens of buildings and pieces of infrastructure, he said.
Kenney said another weather system is forecast to hit the area soon and Team Rubicon is working to get its volunteers “out onto the ground as quickly as possible” in the hopes they can “get as much sandbagging done as possible.”
Peguis has been calling for years for the provincial and federal governments to fund permanent flood protection for the community. Kinew said that is coming.
“I have told the community we are going to work on permanent flood mitigation. It’s actually probably not a ring dike, it’s probably more like some sort of diversion [flood channel] kind of plan,” he said.
Peguis started preparations for flooding six weeks ago, Bird said.
A sandbagging machine has been working in the community, but they simply can’t do it alone, the chief said.
“If we’re going to experience something similar to 2022, the number of sandbags that we’re able to produce by that time will be insufficient,” he said.
“Our people, for months, have been saying that we need to prepare. We knew what was coming our way.”
Peguis First Nation, in Manitoba’s Interlake, is preparing for a flood that could rival the one that devastated the community in 2022. Manitoba’s premier says help is on the way for the flood-prone First Nation, but leaders want a more permanent solution.
