‘Never been this bad’: Southern Manitoba residents cleaning up after intense weekend storm

Residents in southwestern Manitoba were left picking up the pieces Monday after an intense storm battered the region over the weekend.

Natascha Kitchur woke up Monday to find her home and family farm completely submerged after her region – about 260 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg – was hit by more than 140 millimetres of rain.

“This is my house, my home, my heart completely submerged underwater,” Kitchur told CityNews.

“In the 10 years that we have lived here, this is the worst I have ever seen it. It has never been this bad.”

Kitchur, whose family runs a cattle farm near Gypsumville, Man., fears how much of their grain, if any, will be salvageable.

“So we have grain on the other side of those trees, and it is completely submerged and gone,” she said.

“My one neighbour, his grain is gone. He has acres and acres of grain and it’s all gone.”

Meanwhile 300 km west of Winnipeg, gale-force winds ripped a portion of a community rink clean off. Photos taken by residents of Foxwarren show pieces scattered nearby and puddles inside the 75-year-old rink.

The storm also knocked out power for more than 4,000 Manitoba Hydro customers. As of Monday afternoon, only 157 customers remained in the dark, with crews working on locating and fixing downed lines.

“The isolated power poles here and there take time finding, that’s when you’ll have two or three customers without power,” said Peter Chura, the media relations officer with Manitoba Hydro. “We’ll get to all of them for sure, but it takes a bit more time.”