Winnipeg woman sinks into slush covering Assiniboine River after province releases water from reservoir

A Winnipeg woman had a frightening experience when she stepped out onto what she thought was the frozen Assiniboine River with her dog and ended up sinking into slush.

"At one point I was in up to my hips and my mitts and my boots, everything was completely full of water," said Earl Grey resident Melissa Steele.

"That was really scary."

Steele set out to walk along the river bank to the entrance to the skating trail at Hugo Docks. Finding the snow along the riverbank in Munson Park too deep to walk through, Steele decided to go out onto the ice, which normally would be frozen solid at this time of year.

On Thursday, however, the Manitoba government announced it was increasing the amount of water released from the Shellmouth Reservoir ahead of the spring runoff, which increased the flow of water downstream on the Assiniboine River. 

In a news release, the province said the increase in water flow was expected to raise river levels by one to two feet (30 to 61 centimetres) at the Shellmouth Dam and Brandon, but that it should diminish as the river approached Winnipeg.

Steele hadn't heard about the increased flow of water, and she said she saw no visible signs that the ice conditions had changed before stepping out onto the river.

The overnight low on Saturday was –35 C. 

Steele's dog was able to walk over the top layer, but with the deep snow on the bank she didn't think she could get back up, so she slogged through the cold, wet slush toward the docks, which she could see about 100 feet away from her. 

"I wasn't thinking. I was just, I just went into survival mode," she said.

"I was just thinking, I could see where I was going to be safe and that we needed to get there."

Along the way, she managed to call her sister and tell her to come meet her at the docks, but after that Steele lost her phone.

She can't remember how long it took her, but eventually made it to the docks and back up the riverbank.

"At that point, my hands were like fists. Like, I couldn't open my fingers," she said.

A group of people heading down to the docks arrived at the same time and held Steele's dog while she warmed up her hands and waited for her sister, who arrived about five minutes later.

Steele worries that someone else could have a much worse experience if they try to go out on the river.

A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg said it doesn't monitor river ice conditions, and said the trail is maintained by The Forks-North Portage Partnership.

"Residents are urged to use caution around all frozen waterways due to the possibility for rapidly-changing ice conditions based on weather, water currents, run-off, etc.," the spokesperson said in an email.

On The Forks website, it shows that the entire Assiniboine River section of the Nestaweya River Trail is closed, as well as part of the Red River section from Churchill Drive to the St. Vital Bridge. 

At the Hugo Docks on Sunday, a barricade was set up at the entrance to the skating trail, with a sign saying it is closed.

Steele said she didn't think to check the website before heading out on Saturday, and would like to see better signage along the river to let people know if it is safe.

"The river has been such a wonderful place to go to manage with isolation and to just feel relaxed and free and everything like that," she said. 

"But if you don't know from one day to the next, whether it's safe or not, how can we use it? I'm just thinking that it's a resource that needs to be managed and valued."