Communities along Lake Winnipeg dealing with more overland flooding due to rain

Residents in Gimli and the surrounding area are once again dealing with overland flooding caused by high water levels and strong winds across Lake Winnipeg.

High waves have spilled over into properties on Lake Winnipeg after more rain and high winds battered the lake’s shorelines.

Gimli Mayor Lynn Greenberg says the community is frustrated.

“It’s been a tough time for municipalities all across Canada, with the COVID, and the bad weather in the spring, more snowfall, extra snow in April, now all this rain and all this water all over,” said Greenberg. “Last year, of course, it was the opposite, it was too dry. Now we have all this rain.

“I think everyone is upset at Mother Nature, but there is nothing you can do about that.”

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Greenberg says crews have been out since 5 a.m. Sunday morning helping protect homes and businesses from flooding.

Gimli resident Stuart McKay says he’s never seen anything quite like this before. He says the beaches on Lake Winnipeg have become non-existent.

“Look what’s happened on the east side, be it Grand Beach, Begonia, all the way through,” said McKay. “Then along the west side here, same thing. We have had years like this with high water, with all kinds of water entering Lake Winnipeg. The lake and shorelines can’t handle it. It has been inundated by water and inundated by an artificial rise in the lake level.”

Lake Winnipeg 717 feet above sea level

Lake Winnipeg now sits 717 feet above sea level, around two feet above the top recommended operating range set by Manitoba Hydro.

McKay says the reason for high water levels is because of the Jenpeg Generating Station along the Nelson River.

“It’s been a wet year and the Red River Basin has been dumping water into Lake Winnipeg,” he said. “Keep in mind, the Red River Basin, if you look at a map, it’s massive. Thousands of square miles all ending up into Lake Winnipeg. If you get years like this, there are going to be major issues to deal with.”

According to Manitoba Hydro, Jenpeg is used to regulate 85 per cent of the water flowing out of Lake Winnipeg, which helps reduce shoreline flooding on the lake.

But McKay says the station is not lowering the water levels, and is instead making the water levels higher.

Manitoba Hydro trying to lower water level

Bruce Owen from Manitoba Hydro says with all the rain, it’s impossible to drain water anywhere as all bodies of water are seeing higher levels. He says Hydro is doing everything it can to try and lower the water.

“It’s like someone has turned on a fire hose and we are using a garden hose to try and deal with it, drain it and try and move that water,” said Owen.

Greenberg says this has been one of the worst years he’s ever seen.

“We went from winter to summer,” said the Gimli mayor. “There was no spring.”

Fifteen kilometres south of Gimli, Winnipeg Beach Mayor Tony Pimentel says they prepared for this rise in water levels at the beginning of spring.

“We always have a problem around an area we call Boundary Creek,” said Pimentel. “That is the creek that goes into our marina and exits into the lake. We have in the past, with the other years where the water levels have gotten high, we’ve had to cut the road.”

With the recent storm, three homes were impacted in the area, but Pimentel says by cutting the road, it’s saved dozens of homes from being damaged.