If the lowest-lying Red River Valley farms were castles, they’d be relatively safe from invaders right now.
Some are sitting behind moats hundreds of metres wide.
But so far there don’t appear to be many farm homes swallowed by the flooding rivers of southeastern Manitoba – a legacy of last decade’s flood of the century.
“After 1997 a lot of changes were made,” said Marc Rioux, a St. Pierre-Jolys farmer.
“They’re prepared for this.”
On the Easter weekend, the second crest of the Red River flood, which has swamped low lying areas of the valley through eastern North Dakota, reached across the border and tested Manitoba’s defences.
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At the same time, the Pembina River has been cresting high and flooding surrounding farmland.
A farm road near the border at Gretna, which functions as a low dike in flood years like this, broke under water pressure on Sunday and water flooded an American border station and a local bar, closing the border crossing.
Near the village of Halbstadt, a road along the border was holding back a growing lake of floodwater and residents were nervously watching the water accumulate on the American side of the border.
The communities of St. Pierre-Jolys and Morris, which were surrounded by water, were expected to escape significant flooding.
Weather forecasters had predicted rain, but not enough to cause much impact on the water levels.
Rioux said farmers learned plenty from the 1996 and 1997 floods and now can prepare well in advance. For many, that means building up their dikes and settling in for a few days of isolated existence.
For producers with livestock, it’s more challenging, but that just requires more preparation.
“It’s logistics,” said Rioux.
“The hog producers need to make sure they’ve got enough feed in and get some of the hogs moved out ahead of time.”
