Ominous Manitoba flood forecast feared

With signs pointing to an extremely damp spring in many parts of Manitoba, people are anxiously waiting for Monday's release of the province's first official flood forecast.

The province will release that forecast at 1 p.m. CT as well as additional details on its $22-million plan to fight the rising waters.

Near-record snowfalls and highly saturated soil have stoked fears of widespread flooding for landowners along the Red River Valley and the Assiniboine River. The province has already said the likelihood of flooding is very high.

One of the people fearing what's to come in the spring is Mary Elizabeth McKenzie, who for nine years has lived with her husband on a farm south of Winnipeg.

It seems they are always either preparing for a flood or cleaning up after one, she told CBC News.

"I've lost the ability to live my life the way I choose it," McKenzie said.

She said she's lived through 11 floods and in five of them has had to evacuate a number of animals from the farm. 

"My biggest problem is finding a place for [them]," she said. "It's very stressful."

The level of the Red River, which flows north from the U.S. into Lake Winnipeg, is currently two metres higher than usual. It's also covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Sandbagging underway

Experts have said there's twice as much water in the soil as normal. Currently, it's more saturated than it was prior to Manitoba's so-called Flood of the Century in 1997.

In the Rural Municipality of Ritchot, south of Winnipeg, efforts are underway to prepare tens of thousands of sandbags to build temporary dikes.

"We have about 70,000 sandbags in stock, 200,000 thousand coming in the next little while, millions available on demand," said Ritchot Mayor Bob Stefaniuk.

But no matter how many sandbags are readied, great anxiety is caused by a potential flood, Stefaniuk said.

"The worst part of it all is the stress it puts people under. Until the flood is over, you don't know when it's going to stop," he said.

"People get very anxious — particularly when it starts this early in the season, the talk of it and the forecast of it."

City not immune to flood effects

Although the city of Winnipeg is protected by a $665-million floodway, some properties are still threatened.

"There's a small pocket of homes, about 800, that are on the river side of the primary dike system," said Randy Hull, Winnipeg's emergency measures co-ordinator.

"They'll be told what [height] they'll need to dike to, they'll be provided surveying, plastic, the bags. Ninety-nine per cent of Winnipeg, their biggest concern is a high river that will impact our land drainage and sewage system," Hull said.

High river levels impair the sewer system's ability to operate at a normal capacity. That increases the risk of basement flooding as the overloaded system backs up through household sewer lines that aren't protected by sump pumps and backwater valves.

The province is working on a cost-sharing program to help people install sump pumps, pits and backwater valves in the basements of their homes.

It's not known when the details of that program will be released, but some are cautioning the government to act quickly, because the installations require skilled labourers and official inspections.