The water is flowing, but answers to tough questions are still behind the dike.
Manitoba residents along the Assiniboine River are facing the worst flood in their history. The flooding is extreme enough that, if the 1997 Red River inundation was the flood of that century, perhaps this one will be the flood of the 2000s.
High water levels, however, should not have come as a surprise, especially in flood-prone Manitoba. As spring approached several weeks ago, dire predictions about flooding were already being made. While the Manitoba government cannot be blamed for the extreme water levels, residents could be forgiven for wondering why programs and precautions were not considered much earlier.
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Perhaps facing the most bizarre situation are people living near the Portage Diversion, which redirects water from the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba and protects the city of Winnipeg from major inflows.
As the waters rose along the river, the government decided to purposely breach a dike along the diversion at Hoop and Holler Bend to avoid an unplanned breach. The resulting flood may inundate about 225 sq. kilometers of farmland and 150 homes (although those estimates were reduced May 14), but save another 850 properties and avert flooding of 500 sq. km further downstream.
Residents in the region are understandably frustrated and frightened. The threat of breaching the dike came and went for several days, while people worked feverishly to protect their properties from the rush of water that finally started last Saturday.
To make matters worse, information from the government was, in many farmers’ opinions, inadequate and slow. They complained that they received information from neighbours and the media – hardly an appropriate communications system.
Farmers already battling the flood at the south end of Lake Manitoba due to water releases share those concerns. They are now trying to move livestock to higher ground – an effort that should have started much earlier to avoid a full-bore scramble.
Perhaps under some pressure, premier Greg Selinger appeared on television May 13 to tell residents that he would send officials throughout the area to provide information, although this came just hours before the breach.
He also gave more direct guidance on compensation, which he earlier said only would be “beyond” the existing disaster assistance program.
These residents are going to need more compensation. The cap on the existing disaster relief program is $200,000, which won’t come close to covering swamped lands, considerable lost income and soaked homes.
Replacing a residential home is hard enough, but tree nurseries and vegetable farms could go out of business altogether, potentially putting hundreds of people out of work. In addition, the government must expedite payments, since disaster program money is notoriously slow in arriving.
On the federal side, prime minister Stephen Harper toured the region and issued a statement May 11 saying his government “will stand by Manitobans and help them overcome the devastating effects of the floods.”
Yet he made no compensation commitments, so hopefully “standing by Manitobans” will mean more than sending out the military to help with sandbagging – although this effort was much appreciated – and offering “logistical and materials support.”
While the Manitoba government deserves credit for limiting damages in a one in 300 year flood, it could have done better at predicting flows and certainly should have done better in relaying information. As well, both federal and provincial government should provide greater clarity on the compensation to come.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Joanne Paulson collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
