WINNIPEG — A leak in the west bank of the Portage Diversion was plugged Thursday, reducing fears of a serious breach, Emergency Measures Organization Minister Steve Ashton said Thursday.
But he and flood officials cautioned just because the bank is stabilized, or that levels on the Assiniboine River are slowly declining doesn't mean the flood is over.
The diversion is a structure that channels excess water from the Assiniboine River north into Lake Manitoba.
Ashton said as the crest moves east through Headingley and Winnipeg, upstream communities will still see flows above 20,000 cubic feet per second until the end of the month."We're not out of the woods yet," he said.
Ashton also said the province won't close its "controlled release" of the Assiniboine at the Hoop and Holler Bend until it's safe. The province began deliberately flooding farmland southeast of Portage la Prairie last Saturday to decrease pressure of high water flows on the river's dikes and on the diversion.
"It's still operating as we speak with minimal flows," he said, adding it will be assessed Friday. "We actually could close it in a matter of hours if we needed to. We will stop that controlled release as soon as we can."
Steve Topping, Manitoba's top flood fighter, said as the river slowly declines — about 15 centimetres already in Brandon — less water is also flowing into the Portage Diversion.
"We have seen drops in the diversion flows," Topping said. "About 500 (cubic feet per second) dropped off in the diversion, naturally."
That's a ray of hope for people who live and have cottages on Lake Manitoba, who started battling rising water a week ago.
EMO executive director Chuck Sanderson said 100 soldiers have joined homeowners and volunteers in Delta Beach, Twin Beaches and St. Laurent to help them sandbag.
Ashton added the province will release details of its disaster assistance program on Tuesday. The program provides assistance to help homeowners, tenants, farmers, small business owners, non-profit organizations and municipal governments to restore property after a disaster.
So far, 237 private applications have been received, 185 of which are being processed. There have been 84 municipal claims filed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment