A small community in southern Manitoba declared a state of emergency Sunday as severe flooding threatens to inundate homes and wash out roadways.
Officials in the town of Carman said 400 people have been affected so far, and rising waters have already flooded the basements of as many as 40 homes.
“I’ve been here for 35 years and I’ve never seen this kind of water backing up,” Carman Mayor Bob Mitchell told CTV Winnipeg.
Bernice Patterson’s retirement property on the banks of the Boyne River could be completely inundated if the rising waters don’t subside soon.
“It makes me sick,” she said. “I want to throw up, but…it is what it is”
Rising waters have also washed out roads, forcing crews to build a dike along a major highway in town which is located about 90 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
Carman’s local water treatment plant also broke down. The town is now getting its drinking water from the Pembina Valley Co-op in nearby Stephenfield.
The flooding has also shut down the town’s elementary school and high school.
Since early Sunday, hundreds of volunteers filled 15,000 sandbags to help keep the homes dry. Another 15,000 are being brought in from surrounding communities.
“We’re doing our best to try to prevent any damage,” one volunteer said.
Despite these efforts, Mitchell said there is little crews can do to eliminate the risk of flooding until the temperatures start to rise.
“We’re just worried we won’t be able to do anything until Mother Nature melts the ice,” he said.
And Carman isn’t the only Manitoba community to be affected by floodwaters.
On Saturday, the town of Swan River, located approximately 500 kilometres northwest of Carman, declared a state of emergency because of a two-kilometre ice jam. Rising waters caused by the jam threatened between 12 and 15 homes.
Swan River Mayor Glen McKenzie said crews worked through the night to break up the ice and were able to reduce the threat caused by the rising water levels.
“The equipment operated from the river bank and broke some of the huge chunks of ice,” he said. “There’s still one area we’re trying to deal with that could be the key to the whole thing.”
McKenzie said the low-lying areas of the town can now handle another two to three metres of water.
Meanwhile, Peguis First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson said water from the Fisher River is now surrounding about 300 homes. Eighty-four people have been evacuated from the community and are now in Winnipeg.
Hudson said the community is doing its best to protect homes.
“(Crews) are sandbagging…putting up dams around homes, so they can protect the homes,” he said. “We have people hauling the sandbags and hauling the trailer to look at flood-proofing the homes as much as possible.”
The chief said flooding causes problems for the community at least once a year.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg’s Beth Macdonell
