A controlled breach of a dike along the Assiniboine River has been postponed, the Manitoba government said Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, provincial officials had said the breach would take place at 8 a.m. CT Thursday, but they have decided to take a wait-and-see approach as they monitor conditions.
Now, the breach is not expected to occur before noon.
The province initially said on Tuesday that 150 homes could be affected by the release, but at least one municipal official said as many as 300 houses and some of the province's most fertile farmland could be swamped.
"Residents in the area should be on a high level of alert for possible evacuation," the Manitoba government stated in a flood bulletin issued Wednesday morning.
"This planned release would cause overland flooding in the area but it would be a slow and controlled release of water that would slowly move through the area.
"Homes that would be the first to be impacted by the release have already been evacuated and are being protected with flood tubes that are being placed by 100 Canadian Forces soldiers."
Suffering an 'act of government'
"This is just unbelievable," said Danny Kreklewich, who lives in the potential flood zone in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie.
But we're not suffering from an act of God; we're suffering from an act of government when they actually intentionally are going to destroy our property."
Kreklewich said he is contemplating a class-action lawsuit depending on what kind of compensation the government provides in the event his property is flooded out.
"I mean, when we built our house, we built it in a place and at a height and in a way that was supposed to be safe from everything. And it should have and would have been safe," he said.
Dean Melnic, who lives not far from where the dike is being cut, said he is frustrated by the lack of information from the government — but he agrees with the manoeuvre.
"We haven't been told nothing, that's the problem. We're sitting here, we're waiting and no information whatsoever," he said. "We keep listening to the radio and getting our information from there."
Melnic has moved most of his farm equipment, hay, livestock and some racehorses off his property in preparation for the controlled spill.
"It's very unfortunate, but at the end of the day I think they're making the right decision," he said.
"Unfortunately, people are going to be affected, but on the whole I think you have to look at the bigger picture."
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