Rising rivers in western Manitoba prompt state of emergency for St. Lazare
Officials in St. Lazare are scrambling to protect the small western Manitoba village from rising levels on both the Assiniboine and Qu'Appelle rivers.
The Rural Municipality of Ellice-Archie declared a state of emergency on Saturday due to rising water levels in the rivers near the village, about 120 kilometres northwest of Brandon, near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.
"The dike is one foot from breaching," Ellice-Archie municipal Coun. Angelo Fouillard said Monday. "We're going to install a Tiger Dam here today, to try to raise it to two feet."
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Flooding on Highway 41, which leads into the village of St. Lazare, is seen in this drone image taken Sunday. (Submitted by Owen Jessop)
The state of emergency "gives us the ability to do whatever we need to do in case of emergency," Fouillard said.
The community's dike has been sealed and Highway 41 into the village is closed, he said. Twenty-two families west of the Qu'appelle River were also ordered to evacuate this weekend.
Rainfall in western Manitoba has caused extensive flooding in the region. The Assiniboine River is under a flood warning just southwest of St. Lazare, according to Manitoba's hydrologic forecast centre.
The river is projected to peak in that area around July 8, a provincial forecast hydrograph dated July 5 says.
The Qu'Appelle Bridge has been in a deteriorating state since before the flooding and is on the verge of collapse, Fouillard said.
But the councillor says he wants to keep positive, as the Shellmouth dam, north of St. Lazare, appears to have stabilized. The dam was designed to prevent the Assiniboine River from flooding Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg.
"I've been watching it for the last two weeks and it finally stabilized two days ago," Fouillard said. "That water will end up in St. Lazare in two to three days."
The story was originally written by and published for [CBC News](With files from Radio-Canada's Graham Sceviour-Fraehlich). It contains files from rom Radio-Canada's Graham Sceviour-Fraehlich.