Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk made a public announcement from the banks of the Assiniboine River on the afternoon of May 5, confirming that flood concerns for south and central Manitoba are behind us.
“While we’re always preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, right now we find that the Red River has actually peaked in many places along the valley,” said Piwniuk. “So this is good news for us.”
Partly responsible, he says, were weather conditions throughout the spring that turned out to be considerably more favourable than this time last year.
Fisaha Unduche joined Piwniuk at the announcement. He’s the executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management.
“Most Manitoba lakes are right at their optimal level for this time of year,” Unduche said. “I checked this morning and most lakes are still ice covered, but within the next ten days the weather forecast shows no major wind, which tells us that the risk of ice pileup is very low.”
Even with some precipitation in the near forecast, he says, it’s not expected to be enough to pose any great risk. At worst, it will simply draw out the water recession a little bit longer.
Looking at the long-range forecast, from June through August, Unduche added that precipitation is expected to be in the normal range and temperatures will average slightly above normal.
The head of Manitoba’s Emergency Management Organization, Johanu Botha, also weighed in on overall 2023 flooding across the province. Some overland flooding was experienced in areas near Boissevain this year, he said, where precipitation levels have been slightly higher.
“While we haven’t seen the dike closures and evacuations that we did last year, we have seen a couple of states of emergency,” said Botha. “One is still active. Well over 30 local authorities have seen road closures and eight communities were at pump stage. We’ve been in constant contact with local authorities and emergency management partners throughout the response.”
Compared to last spring, Piwniuk said that it’s not just the inconvenience of flooding that was avoided this year. Total costs resulting from the flood of 2022 came to over $400 million when adding up damages to private, municipal, and provincial infrastructure.
This year, Piwniuk said, the province has dedicated over $210 million to flood mitigation projects going forward.
“When we had flood events in other years—say, in 2000—we actually had more damage,” he concluded. “But our infrastructure over the years has improved so that we can actually take more water.”
