The federal government is sending Canadian soldiers to build up dikes along the Assiniboine River in Manitoba.
Following a May 8 conversation with Manitoba premier Greg Selinger, prime minister Stephen Harper authorized members of the Canadian Armed Forces to assist with the flood fight in the province.
“The City of Brandon, Man., declared a state of emergency today, and water levels on the Assiniboine River continue to rise,” Harper said in a statement.
“Our troops will work with local officials there and in other impacted areas of the province to assist Manitobans in need and evacuate those in harm’s way.”
With water levels and volumes expected to increase this week on the Assiniboine River between Portage la Prairie and Headingly, Man., the military manpower is needed to maintain and increase the height of dikes along the river, Manitoba Water Stewardship said in its May 8 flood bulletin.
The melt from a late April snowstorm, which dumped 25 to 50 centimetres of snow on western Manitoba, combined with 25 to 50 millimetres of rain expected this week in the province, forced Manitoba Water Stewardship forecasters to revise their flood outlook for the Assiniboine.
The already high water levels in the Assiniboine between Portage and Headingly could add another 15 to 25 cm later this week, forecasters said in a statement.
To protect farmland and residences along the Assiniboine, the provincial government used more than 230 pieces of equipment this spring to reinforce 70 kilometres of earthen dikes between Portage and Headingly. Over several weeks in March, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation raised the dikes to the level of the 1976 Assiniboine flood, plus two feet.
However, ice jams and a month of high water flows have weakened sections of the dike, so Canadian soldiers are needed to strengthen and raise its level with sandbags in low-lying areas.
“Approximately 2.7 million sandbags from the provincial stock and from the City of Winnipeg stock will be deployed,” the provincial government noted said in its May 8 flood bulletin.
