Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Communities along the Red River in Manitoba are bracing for another major flood this spring, even as some still have not finished repairing damage from last year's high water event. The Rural Municipality of Montcalm, which surrounds southern Manitoba communities like Letellier and St. Jean Baptiste, still has about $10 million to $15 million worth of repairs left to make, said Reeve Paul Gilmore.
The municipality of North Norfolk has declared a state of emergency after it was pounded by rain overnight Monday into Tuesday, causing flooding in the community of Austin. The municipality said in a Tuesday morning news release the local state of emergency was being declared after what it called an "unprecedented" amount of rain fell Tuesday morning. Austin was hit especially hard, said Theresa Bergen, chief administrative officer for the North Norfolk municipality, which is between Brandon and Winnipeg.
Some communities in southern Manitoba are still bracing for more flood impacts while others begin to assess the damage after another storm moved across the region this week. The town of Powerview-Pine Falls has put up barricades to protect its water treatment plant, deputy mayor Lorie Finkbeiner told CBC News. The rural municipality of St. Clements, which held an emergency meeting on Tuesday after Environment Canada issued rainfall and wind warnings across much of southern Manitoba, had no report of damage around the southern basin of Lake Winnipeg, said emergency co-ordinator Tyler Freeman.
As southern Manitoba remains enveloped in freezing temperatures and seemingly endless snow flurries, there's another "F" word that keeps coming to mind — flooding. The province's Hydrologic Forecast Centre released its first flood outlook for the season on Friday and is predicting major flows along the Red River and its tributaries, including the Roseau, Rat and Pembina rivers.
On Friday the Pembina Valley Water Co-op received notice that the provincial and federal governments both supported an important funding request. CEO Greg Archibald says this will support a vital first step in upgrading the Letellier Water Treatment Plant, and the whole system. "Obviously because of the growth in Southern Manitoba and our water restrictions, this is really important. It was announced that our project for $9.335 million would be supported with a government grant from Canada at $3.7 million, and a grant from Manitoba for $3.1 million. This is great news."
