Premier visits Swan Valley region as locals deal with the aftermath of a recent flood

Premier Wab Kinew visited Swan River and the community of Minitonas Wednesday afternoon as the community is dealing with the aftermath of the flooding conditions.

The municipality of Swan Valley West was hit with heavy downpour Monday, bringing devastation to communities in the area.

With the Town of Minitonas being cut off from the roads in and out of the community by the water, the power and cell service were restored in the community yesterday.

Both Swan River and the Municipality of Swan Valley West declared local states of emergency, as multiple roads in the area are closed due to washouts, with some parts of the highway being completely ruined.

Randy and Crystal Hart live just outside of Minitonas. Wednesday afternoon, they were setting up signs on one of the dirt roads just off Highway 10. The Harts say that, in the past couple of days, they had to help a couple of vehicles that were stuck on a washed-out road.

“About every road here is devastated, so there is no really roads you can go down,” said Crystal.

What has been about an eight- to ten-minute drive to Swan River from their home has now turned into a one-hour detour with limited access, as a stretch of Highway 10 to the closest community where the couple could get groceries and other necessities is now washed out.

“We haven’t tried it out yet. And Minitonans just got the power back,” said Crystal.

The Harts say they are lucky as their home is located on the hill.

“My son has a shop in Swan River, and he has a shop that had three feet of water in it. And they spent all morning pushing mud out of it,” said Randy.

However, their farmland sustained major damage.

“I am thinking that most of them are going to be a write-off. Many of them are underwater.”

Environment Canada’s forecast shows more rain is on the way to the already devastated community, with a chance of five to ten millimeters of showers Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Premier Kinew visited Minitonas to speak with residents.

“People are stressed out, some tears. People have been up for, in some cases, I’m sure it feels like days at this point. But there’s a lot of community spirit,” said Kinew.

The residents in Minitonas are currently dealing with the impacts of the flood and cleaning out mud in their garages and basements.

Kinew called the damages in the community extraordinary and says the province is looking to involve federal funding to address long-term impacts of extreme weather.

At the same time, the province is looking to allocate some of the funds from the emergency social services program.

“There’s just a need to help people out with the immediate needs like food or to folks who can’t make it into work,” said Kinew.

The premier did not provide a timeline for the reopening of bridges on Highway 10 and Highway 3, but said it’s a high priority.

“We have our little bureaucratic process that we have to go through, but we are going to make sure that those things line up and meet the needs of people in the Swan Valley region.”