After a week of intentionally spilling water onto farmland southeast of Portage la Prairie, the Manitoba government decided today to close a dike on the Assiniboine River.
The province began work to close the controlled breach of the dike at Hoop and Holler Bend at noon Friday. Water levels in the Assiniboine River at Portage crested earlier this week and provincial officials decided the closure was possible because dikes east of Portage can handle the flows.
Last week the national media descended on Hoop and Holler Bend, after the province announced it would cut a hole in the dike and deliberately release water out of the swollen Assiniboine River, flooding properties and farmland to the southeast.
The province had planned to release 2,000 to 6,000 cubic feet per second of water from the breach, which would have flooded 180 sq. kilometres of land. This extreme step was necessary, the provincial government said, because Manitobans were combatting a one in 300 year flood of the Assiniboine River.
Residents in the projected path of the controlled spill spent days preparing for the expected water, sandbagging property and moving valuables out of their homes.
But when Manitoba Water Stewardship cut the dike May 14, five days after announcing the plan, the government released only 400 cubic feet per second out of the river, flooding approximately 3.4 sq. km of land.
Despite the minimal flows and the small amount of land affected by the deliberate flood, Steve Ashton, Manitoba minister of emergency measures, said the controlled release was necessary to alleviate pressure on river dikes east of Portage.
