Winnipeggers deal with streets, basements flooded as weekend rainfall continues in southern Manitoba

Manitobans are battling overland flooding as major rainfall continues to pour on most of the province’s southern regions.

Water is pooling in streets, storm drains are being clogged and residents are desperately searching for sandbags as the fear of flooding intensifies.

Some Winnipeg residents saw their basements being flooded and many roads needed to be closed.

BACKGROUND: Rain, snow, winter storm warnings issued for southern Manitoba

Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for Winnipeg and the province issued an overland flood warning for southern Manitoba.

“I’ve also seen a lot of reports of people already concerned about flooding around their homes, both overland and near rivers and streams,” said Scott Kehler, the chief scientist at Weatherlogics. “The flooding has already begun in many ways.”

The province says 30 to 50 millimetres of rain is expected throughout the weekend, while some areas could receive up to 80 millimetres by Monday afternoon.

Winnipeg police urged residents to avoid roadways and underpasses that were flooded. They say some motorists were stranded.

The City of Winnipeg says sandbags are available for residents experience flooding. They are being handed out a three locations: 1220 Pacific Ave., 1090 Thomas Ave. and 1539 Waverley St.

By early Sunday afternoon, water was rising in more than 40 retention ponds in Winnipeg’s Waverley West ward.

Coun. Janice Lukes issued a warning on social media with photos showing high water levels.

“Future precipitation today & impact on ponds is difficult to predict- but-water & waste dept believes ponds will be able to handle,” wrote Lukes.

Manitoba announced Saturday it would be activating the Red River Floodway to control and manage water levels in Winnipeg.

“Overland flooding occurs when water on the ground surface does not have sufficient time to flow into rivers and streams, potentially causing flooding of low-lying areas, roads and properties,” the province wrote in a release.

“We already see the rivers are high, and the Flood Forecast Center in Manitoba has issued a new outlook calling for river levels to rise up near or above the levels that they were earlier in the spring,” said Kehler. “So far, we’ve seen about 30 to 40 mm of rain in the Winnipeg area, and we’ll see more added to that today (Saturday) and on Sunday as well.

“The weather pattern that’s bringing us these Colorado lows is the result of the jet stream dipping down into the Western US. When it does that, it develops what we call a trough in the jet stream, which is a big area where it’s dipped well to the south.”

Despite an overland flooding concern, Kehler says the rain is welcomed for those working in agriculture because of the severe drought they experienced last fall. However, for those travelling through western Manitoba and into Saskatchewan, he says drivers should be cautious.

“Whenever we’re talking about flooding, you need to remember that you should never drive through any type of water because you don’t know how deep it is and it doesn’t actually take much depth of water to sweep away a vehicle,” he said.

“So, there’s a phrase called ‘turn around don’t drown.’ If you see water, you want to not drive through it and go back and find a different route.”