Melita will get $500,000 for additional flood protection before the Souris River crests in late April, the Manitoba government announced last week.
In addition to raising the height of the southwestern town’s existing dike, workers will construct a 750 metre dike along Highway 3 to provide another barrier to flood waters.
“Enhancing the dike in Melita on a permanent basis makes more sense than on a temporary basis,” said Manitoba premier Gary Doer in a news release April 17.
“(It) will provide greater protection over a longer term to the residents of Melita.”
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Flood forecasters from Manitoba Water Stewardship expect the Souris to crest April 29-May 1, at 0.3 metres higher than water levels in 1999.
Consequently, Melita’s dike will be raised 0.6 m above water levels from 1999.
“Seventy six (1976) was a worse flood… but nobody seems to know any levels from then,” said Jim Trewin, reeve for the Rural Municipality of Arthur.
The dike held in 1999, but Trewin said there are concerns that it might not this year if the Souris reaches predicted levels.
Record snowfall in North Dakota is the primary factor behind this year’s flooding of the Souris River, but not the only one, said Trewin.
“The Rafferty and Alameda dams are on this system, and of course a couple of dams in the States also. And they’re there for a purpose, to hold the water up,” he said.
“But once the crest goes by, they open their dams up… that makes it flow longer (around Melita).”
Trewin said construction of the larger and higher dike is expected to be completed by April 25, a few days before the crest.
Although the dike should protect the homes and businesses in Melita, forecasters at Water Stewardship are predicting extensive agricultural flooding in the Souris River valley. The water could remain for all of May.
“There’s a lot of farmland and pasture land right to the U.S. border (30 km away), and even north of here, that’s going to be under water for a long time,” Trewin said.
“It’s going to be out of production for this whole year… They (farmers) don’t think they’re likely going to get it seeded.”
Rick Tilbury, a producer who primarily grows cereal crops in the valley, hasn’t given up hope. If the weather is warm and dry over the next few weeks, he said it may be possible to seed at the end of May.
The Souris River valley is two to three km wide, and closer to the U.S. border, it is used predominantly for pasture, said Tilbury.
If seeding isn’t possible this year, it will have an impact on his farm and on other producers in the region.
“It’s productive land, so you do hate to lose it,” said Tilbury, who estimated that he and his brothers own about 2,000 acres of cropland in the valley.
He said the priority now is protecting the town.
“There are businesses in the valley that could definitely be flooded and shut down… But they’re building them (the dikes) up as we speak.”
