Southwestern Manitoba is under a flash flood warning and the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton has declared a state of emergency after torrential rains hit the storm-battered region again on Monday evening.
“We thought we were OK, and then it just started to pour, and it just seemed to come in all directions,” said David Stead, a Boissevain-Morton councillor whose family owns Steads Farm Supply Country Store in Boissevain, about 220 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
“We just couldn’t stop it.”
Boissevain got 152 millimetres of rain by 5 a.m. Tuesday, Environment and Climate Change Canada said. Rain continued to fall elsewhere in the region, though in lesser amounts, the agency said.
“It was a surreal feeling to see how much water there was,” said Paul Vasile, who drove to Boissevain to help out his girlfriend. Vasile said the water reached above his knees.
“Honestly, looking down the stairs [at the basement] felt like a scene out of Titanic,” he said. “There was furniture floating around, my carpet cleaner was floating around — it was just a mess.”
Other hard-hit communities include Deloraine, with 130 millimetres, Minto at 113, and Shilo at 100. Neepawa, Plumas and Rivers all got 101 millimetres.
Neepawa CAO Colleen Synchyshyn said a campground in the area had to be evacuated Monday evening.
“It’s totally flooded down there,” she said. The evacuation was “a good decision, based on what we did see coming.”
The flash flood warning sent to a wide area by the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization just after 10 a.m. warned that many roads were unsafe due to floodwater damage.
More rain is forecast, and dangerous high water conditions have caused a number of highway closures, a provincial spokesperson said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon.
Non-essential travel in western Manitoba, including the Parkland region, is not recommended, the province said.
Drivers should not cross flooded highways, should follow posted detours, and should check the Manitoba 511 website for closures and other advisories before planning travel.
Manitoba Hydro said up to around 14,200 customers were without power during the storm, with some outages expected to last until Wednesday.
Spokesperson Scott Powell said crews were still working to restore power to around 3,800 as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
“It was a fairly widespread incident — and that’s challenging for us,” Powell said, adding they also faced “major access problems,” particularly in the Parkland region.
The utility said in a release washed-out roads and downed poles have completely cut access to communities like Childs Lake, Benito, Minitonas and Swan River.
“The additional rain they got … some of that water is continuing to feed down and washing out more roads,” Powell said. “It is a challenge for our crews. It’s making access a real challenge for us.”
Boissevain-Morton declared a state of emergency around 9 a.m. The municipality asked people to stay off flooded roads because of the danger of washouts or other hazards and limit non-essential water use to allow the overwhelmed system to recover.
It’s the second time in a month southwestern Manitoba has dealt with such a storm.
Earlier in June, the region was hit hard by a storm that caused extensive flooding. Storm-related flooding in a number of areas prompted the province to announce a provincewide disaster financial assistance program on June 11.
Boissevain has cancelled its Heritage Day and Canada Day festivities set for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Heritage Day is celebrated at the Irvin Gordon International Wildlife Museum, which is filled with around 10 centimetres of water, said Judy Swanson, Boissevain-Morton’s head of council.
“It’s a mess, to say the least,” she said.
Residents are cleaning out flooded basements and roads are flooded in the southwestern Manitoba municipality, after a torrential downpour Monday night brought more than 150 millimeters of rain to some areas.
About 70 per cent of the roads in the rural southern part of the municipality are either underwater or damaged by water, she was told by staff.
Swanson urged people to stay off closed roads, because they might be washed out.
“We don’t know what’s under that water yet.”
The worst of the rain lasted about an hour and a half and overwhelmed the municipality’s sewer system, she said.
“It was a huge amount of water in a very short time.”
Like others in the community, Swanson has sewer water in her basement.
She faced a lineup Tuesday morning at the insurance office — which is itself flooded, she said.
“It’s just not a good scene.”
Stead said most of the goods in his family’s store in Boissevain were raised off the floor, so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been, considering when his daughter opened the door to check the building at 7 p.m., water ran out toward her.
There was nothing anyone could do about that amount of rain, he said.
“It’s just like walking into a shower. You’re instantly wet,” he said about the experience of stepping out into it.
“It just came too fast.”
