People stranded as heavy rain leads to state of emergency to western Manitoba
Up to 150 people have been forced out of their homes by flash flooding in Swan Valley as communities in Manitoba’s Parkland region continue to deal with the aftermath of heavy rains Sunday.
Swan Valley West Reeve Bill Gade is calling on the province to send in helicopters for people who have been stranded by the flood, as communities in the area deal with power outages, a gas line rupture, a boil water advisory and a washed-out bridge following severe thunderstorms over the weekend.
"We have some people right now, sitting on roofs of houses is the only way they can keep dry," Gade told CBC News Monday morning.
Between 100 and 150 people could be out of their homes because of the storm in the area about 360 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg — but not everyone could be reached, he said.
Some fire trucks nearly got stuck while crews were attempting rescues, with first responders having to resort to using Zodiac boats to get people out, Gade said.
"We are no longer able to get anyone that has a medical emergency here … without a helicopter,” he said.
“We certainly can't get to some of these people stranded in their houses without helicopters.”
The Swan Valley got about 72 millimetres of rain in just a few hours Sunday evening as heavy thunderstorm activity walloped western Manitoba over the weekend, Environment Canada said.
(Alesha-Mai Ferland/Facebook via CBC)
The water was “coming up a couple inches a minute,” Gade said. He believed every road between Swan River and the Duck Mountains had been “lost.”
"We have some bridges that we can't see right now. We don't know if it's underwater … or if the bridge is gone," he said.
"Our hope is that this water is going to go down here in a few hours, and we'll be able to get back into these places. So certainly anyone that can shelter in place, that's what we're asking them to do."
Multiple highways were closed in the western part of the province, particularly in the Parkland area.
"The overnight rains kind of really inundated the ditches and all that, so a lot of bridges and streams and creeks and rivers are kind of just spilling their banks and just causing a lot of washouts or water over the road," said Derek Trainer, head of Manitoba's 511 network, which provides highway conditions.
Crews were putting up barricades where they could, and RCMP were assisting in some areas, he said.
Minitonas state of emergency
The Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman, which neighbours Swan Valley West, declared a state of emergency in the aftermath of the flood, urging residents in a Facebook message early Monday morning to shelter in place "as we work together through this event."
A boil water advisory was in effect as a power outage caused a loss of water pressure in the distribution system, which could compromise the safety of the water supply.
A gas line rupture also forced a partial evacuation of a Minitonas neighbourhood on Monday.
Everyone in town is affected by the flooding, the social media post said. Minitonas, about 375 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, had a population of 465 in the 2021 census, Statistics Canada says.
High water levels on the East Favel River prompted the closure of the Second Avenue bridge in Minitonas, and Knox Avenue was also submerged, the municipality said.
"Please proceed with caution when navigating all other roads and water crossings," the post said.
The fire department will go door-to-door to inform people about how to handle submerged outlets, electrical panels, electronics and appliances while Manitoba Hydro works to restore power, the municipality said.
More rain possible
Environment Canada meteorologist Matt Loney said Minitonas received the largest amount of rainfall in the region in the aftermath of the storm, with about 148 millimetres of rain in only a few hours Sunday night.
“We had very heavy rainfall … some large hail and some severe, straight-line thunderstorm winds” over the weekend, Loney said.
Some parts of Manitoba saw winds of over 110 km/h, he said. The biggest hail reported was golf-ball sized in Canupawakpa Dakota Nation in the southwest corner of the province, Environment Canada said.
“Several of those storms did have tornado warnings on them,” Loney said. “At this time, we haven't received any specific tornado reports.”
The forecast is for “a bit of a lull,” with a chance of afternoon showers Monday, but there was the potential for some more heavy rain Tuesday, Loney said.
“We would encourage folks to have a way of getting alerts and keeping an eye on the sky,” he said.
Thumbnail courtesy of Chelsea Kemp/CBC.
The story was originally written by Arturo Chang and published for CBC News. It contains files from Rosanna Hempel, Meaghan Ketcheson and Darren Bernhardt.