People in Manitoba have seen way more than their fair share of floods over the years, ruining way more springs than they care to remember.
In fact, a 2014 Global News listing of Canada’s worst floods found that four of the top five floods in Canada had occurred in Manitoba: the 1997 Red River Flood, known as the “Flood of the Century” and floods in 1950, 2009 and 2011.
(Rounding out that 2014 list was the Calgary flood of 2013. And–since that list was compiled–Quebec suffered through horrific floods in 2017.)
The town of Morris, Man., south of Winnipeg, is protected from the Morris River and the Red River by a ring dike surrounding the town during flooding in 2011. (David Lipnowski/Canadian Press)
Whether or not a Manitoba spring is blighted by floods depends on a lot of factors, having mainly to do with the weather conditions.
And right now, heavy snowfall in the United States has Manitobans more than a little worried about this year.
The province released its latest flood outlook Monday.
The forecast, from the Hydrologic Forecast Centre of Manitoba, said heavy snows that have fallen the the northern U.S. will likely see a Red River flood higher than 2009 this spring.
Should the prediction be realized, the main highway linking Winnipeg to the U.S. could be underwater for weeks, and thousands of acres of farmland would be swamped and thousands of homes might be swamped, though many houses were raised following the “Flood of the Century.”
Highway 75, which runs between Winnipeg and Emerson, was closed to traffic for 36 days due to flooding in the spring of 2009. (CBC)
Winnipeg, the province’s capital city, is protected by a massive channel called the Red River Floodway that diverts water around and away from the city.
Forecasters are warning that even under so-called normal conditions, the Red River will rise to 2011 levels.
Meanwhile, floods are striking the American Midwest, where rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snowmelt.
With files from CP, CBC, CTV, Global, Postmedia
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