For the first time this summer, a week has passed without a flood bulletin or water related crisis in Manitoba.
July was a chaotic month in the province as the government released 25 flood bulletins between the end of June and July 24, updating Manitobans on flooding on the Assiniboine River, the Souris River and other streams and channels in the western half of the province.
Rainfall of 150 to 200 millimetres in western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan in late June decimated crops, washed out roads and flooded river valleys in the region.
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Agricultural land in the Assiniboine River Valley between Russell, Man., and Brandon is still flooded and water levels on Lake Manitoba remain high, but it appears the flood of 2014 may finally be over.
In a release, the province estimated the cost of the flood response and the related repairs to infrastructure will be more than $200 million.
The estimates do not include agricultural production losses.
As of July 31, flows on the Assiniboine River upstream of Portage la Prairie were measured at 20,680 cubic feet per second, much lower than flows that topped 50,000 cfs in mid-July.
The province is also moving less Assiniboine River water into Lake Manitoba via the Portage Diversion. Flows on the diversion channel were 6,510 cfs July 31, significantly less than peak flows of 35,000 cfs earlier in the month.
The government’s decision to divert Assiniboine River water to Lake Manitoba has provoked the ire of cattle producers and farmers around the lake. Producers remain worried that their pasture and hay land will be flooded like it was in 2011, when water levels in the lake topped 817 feet above sea level.
The province said water levels on the lake would peak this year at 814.8 feet, likely in early August.
