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Winnipeg River Levels » Provincial Flood Forecast » EmergWeb » Winnipeg's Primary Dike System »

Features

Flood Map

State of Emergency

Full Dike Closure

Partial Dike Closure

Caution Issued

Past Floods

Flood TImelines

1997
April 18: The water crested in Fargo; 35,000 people left homeless.
April 19: Water began to flood streets in Grand Forks.
April 20: The Red was out of its banks.
April 23: Evacuation of area between Emerson and Winnipeg began. By 8 p.m. the next day, 17,000 Manitobans had left their homes (in addition to the 3,200 already ordered out.)
April 24: The crest at Emerson came in at just under 792.5 feet. Expected crest was 795', and dikes built to 797 feet.
April 25: 3000 armed forces personnel were in the province; the province put out a call for 4,500 more in case the Bunkild dike failed; at the height of the crisis, there were nearly 8,500 armed forces personnel in province fighting the flood
April 30: The Red was backing up into the Seine and Assiniboine, and water pushed through sandbags on Roslyn Road and Wellington Crescent.

2009
March 23: Dominion City was the first community in Manitoba to declare state of emergency; evacuation alerts handed out to 850 residents.
March 25: Ice jam caused RM's of St. Andrews, St. Clements, East and West St. Paul to declare states of emergency; 30 homes evacuated.
March 26: 95 people evacuated from Roseau River First Nation.
March 28: River crested in Fargo at 40.82'; it was feared 30,000 could be left homeless.
March 31: State of emergency declared in Selkirk.
April 1: River crested at 49.34' in Grand Forks.
April 8: 1 p.m., Winnipeg Floodway was opened after ice jams cleared.
April 10: Good Friday, residents of St. Andrews and St. Clements received evacuation notices.; homes were smashed and knocked off their basements and footings by 7' (2.1 meter) high sheets of ice.
April 12: Winnipeg was clear of ice blocks and ice jams; 79 year old Mary Silverthorn and her husband Glenn died after their car was swept into the Woody River.
April 14: Prime Minister Harper toured flooded parts of the province.
April 15: Winnipeg declared a state of emergency.
April 16: The Red River crested in Winnipeg at 22.6'. Without the floodway, the city would have been submerged under 9.23 meters of water.
April 18: Rreported that 777 square kilometers of land in the province was under water, at some places 19 kms. wide.
April 27: CBC News reported that "the Manitoba flood has submerged twice as much land as previously thought; 1.680 square kilometers under water, with the crest still moving through southern parts of the province."

2011
April 8: State of emergency in the RM of St. Andrews50 homes were evacuated in the Netley Creek area.
April 9: The province raised the gates on the Winnipeg floodway at 9 a.m.
April 10: The Red River crested at Fargo, reaching a peak of 38.75 feet, lower than had been anticipated.; First flood-related death reported. A Niverville man, 61 year old Raymond Stott, drowned when his car went under water on a flooded section of Alarie Road in the RM of DeSaliberry, about 50 kms south of Winnipeg.; City of Winnipeg calls for 900 sandbaggers to shore up dikes and protect homes within the city.; Premier Greg Selinger promised St. Andrews RM will have permanent flood protection in two years, and possibly as early as next spring. He said the local authorities will tell the government what kind of protection each location needs.; Second flood-related death reported. RCMP said a 35-year old man from Lac du Bonnet died after his vehicle wound up in a water-filled ditch.
April 12: State of emergency declared in Riverton as ice jams threatened a bridge at Provincial Road 329. Ice took out part of the walking bridge, a landmark in the town.; State of emergency declared at Peguis First Nation as the river rose about a metre in a few hours. Hundreds of homes are threatened, and water has reached the highway, the only access to Peguis.
April 13: Brandon declared a state of emergency because of rising water in a south end pond. The declaration allows civic workers onto the property to drain the pond into nearby bushland, away from any residential area.
April 14: Flood crests in Grand Forks at 49.67', making it the third worst flood in their history.
April 15: The Manitoba government promised to pump $1.5 million into flood fighting efforts at Peguis First Nation.
April 18: States of emergency declared in the Rural Municipalities of Headingley, St. Francis Xavier and Cartier because of ice jams on the Assiniboine River.
April 24: The remaining 600 residents of Roseau River First nation are expected to be evacuated today and tomorrow, as water continues to rise around the community, threatening to close off access to the community.; Emerson had its crest. Official measurements said it was a foot under 2009 levels.
April 27: Manitoba Water Stewardship announced that the flood peak will be lower than 2009 levels at all points along the Red.
April 29: The province says a winter snowstorm and high winds forcasted for the weekend could threaten Manitoba's flood defences. Winds gusting at 40-70 kph could cause ice pile-ups on some of the province's lakes, from Oak Lake and Pelican Lake near Brandon to Lake Winnipeg. The storm is also expected to delay the crest of the Red and Assiniboine till May 4.
May 1: A winter storm over the weekend dropped about 25 cm of snow in the Parklands region, with up to 50 cm in higher elevation areas. But despite high winds and earlier rain, community ring dikes throughout the Red River Valley held, with only minor erosion.
May 4: Both the Red River and the Assiniboine reached crest in Winnipeg. The Red topped out at 19.6' above Jamesthat's down considerably from original predictions ranging from a low of 20-22 feet to a high of greater than '97 levels, which were at 24.5' above James.; 4 First Nations communities on Lake Manitoba are threatened by high waterpeople are busy building emergency dikes and pumping water from fields and crawl spaces; they say the amount of water is unprecedented. 40 homes at the Pinaymootang First Nation are at risk of flooding. Officials warn it could get worse because of the Portage Diversion re-directing water from the flooding Assiniboine into Lake Manitoba.
May 6: Brandon and other centres along the Assiniboine received what the mayor of Brandon called a nasty surprise. It was discovered that a faulty guage along the river system in Saskatchewan had inaccurately measured the level of water. The province now says the river will peak a foot higher than expected.
May 8: The city of Brandon declared a state of local emergency today, at an emergency meeting called this morning. The declaration allows the police to remove sightseers who are impeding flood-fighters' efforts to raise earth dikes as the Assiniboine continues to rise.; The federal government is deploying several hundred soldiers to Manitoba to help build and reinforce dikes along the Assiniboine, especially between Portage la Prairie and Headingly, over the next three days.
May 9: The province declared a state of emergency for all communities from Portage la Prairie east to Headingly; The province announced it plans to divert water from the Assiniboine into the LaSalle River watershed to avoid massive flooding that would cover 500 square kms of southern Manitoba. It says without intervention, the Assiniboine will spill its banks at a rate of 15,000 cubic feet per second, in a spill that would threaten a dozen communities. Even with a new diversion southeast of Portage, the spill is still expected to affect 150 homes and 225 sq kms of land
May 10: Provincial officials say flooding west of Winnipeg is unprecedented and worse than what covered southern Manitoba in the 1997 flood. The province has asked the federal government for another 300 soldiers to help protect properties south of the Red River, where it plans to do a controlled breach of the dike to release water from the swollen Assiniboine onto open land south of Portage. About 150 properties are at risk of being flooded as a result of the breach.; To prevent a potentially disastrous uncontrolled breach of the dike, officials will cut a 65 metre hole in the road (at a point known as the "Hoop and Holler Bend") to allow the Assiniboine to spill into the Elm River and from there into the LaSalle.; The provincial government announced it will establish a special relief program for families and farms hit by flooding; The provincial agriculture minister declared a livestock state of emergency today, urging farmers to help one another out in getting livestock from flooded or about-to-be flooded areas to higher ground. Stan Struthers says his department will identify Crown lands that can be used for agricultural purposesto house livestock and store machineryuntil the crisis is over.
May 11: The province announced that a number of campgrounds, including Lundar Beach, St. Ambroise and Watchorn parks along the shores of Lake Manitoba will be closed for the season, due to flooding. And Kiche Manitou lower campground in Spruce Woods Provincial park will be closed until July 28.; Communities west of Winnipeg continue to work feverishly to protect themselves from flooding due to a controlled breach of the dike on the Assiniboine river east of Portage, planned for 8 a.m. tomorrow. The Starlite Hutterite colony on the LaSalle river is busy building dikes and preparing for possible evacuation, as are more than 100 homes in the path of flood water that will be released.; Brandon mayor says "stay away"warns people not to visit the city which is under a state of emergency.; Assiniboine highest in Brandon since 1882.
May 12: After a day of frantic sandbagging in the RM of Portage and communities all along the Assiniboine to Headingly, in preparation for the province's "controlled breach" of the dike near Portage, Emergency Measures minister Steve Ashton announced that the breach will not happen till early Saturday, and will release a much lower volume of water than earlier planned.
May 13: Hundreds of soldiers continue to work at strengthening weak spots in a dike along the Assiniboine, on either side of PR 430. The highway has been blocked off to form two landing zones for half a dozen helicopters that are continuously unloading sandbags. The base of the dikes is clay and water is seeping underneath. The province plans to add a third landing pad today to allow more helicopters to land close to the dike because the ground is too wet for vehicles to drive on.; Lake Manitoba has risen by 2-3 feet, flooding thousands of acres of farm and pasture land, and threatening communities around the lake, including Steep Rock, 200 cottage owners at Delta Beach and several First Nation communities. Farmers in the area say they've been told up to 10,000 cattle will have to be moved as far away as Saskatchewan and Alberta.; About 700 City of Winnipeg employees have been reassigned to making sandbagscity expects to have made 2 million by the weekend.
May 14: At 7 a.m. the province cut a hole in the dike at Hoop & Holler Bend near Portage la Prairie to release some of the pressure on the swollen Assiniboine and the Portage Diversion. Provincial officials say the flow through the opening will be controlled to about 500 cubic feet per second to begin with. Homeowners in the path of the oncoming water continue to work to protect their homes.
May 15: So far, so good. The water flowing through the hole in the dike at Hoop & Holler bend is flowing slowly, at a pace equal to a person walking beside it. No homes flooded. Water from the "controlled breach" now expected to affect 180 sq. kms. instead of the 225 originally predicted. The province requested 100 more soldiers to help protect homes in the flood zone. As of today, 1500 soldiers are involved in the flood fight.; Premier Greg Selinger expects cost of this year's flood to be around 200 million dollars.
May 16: Assiniboine expected to crest in Brandon today. Officials say they're ready.; The province is moving a team of workers to Twin Lakes beaches in the Interlake where cottages are threatened by water from Lake Manitoba. The lake has risen by 2 or 3 feet in recent weeks, and high winds are expected today.; Highway 75 re-opened late this afternoon after being closed due to flooding since April 18.
May 17: Cottage owners at Delta Beach and Twin Lakes beaches brace for flooding and prepare to evacuate as water from the record-high Assiniboine continues to raise Lake Manitoba to dangerous levels.
May 19: Emergency Measures minister Steve Ashton says a leak in the west bank of the Portage Diversion was plugged today, reducing fears of a serious breach.
May 20: The province closed the "controlled breach" at Hoop and Holler Bend near Portage la Prairie today. Water had only been flowing through it at a rate of 400 cubic fee per second, and has only covered about 3.5 sq. kms. of land. Provincial officials say the breach could be activated again if needed.
May 23: Flooding took a turn for the worse at Delta Beach today as strong winds caused high water to flood a number of cottages. A bridge on the east side is threatened. One cottage owner was quoted as saying "the flood is over everywhere else, but here it's just started."; Dikes are holding, but voluntary evacuation orders were issued today for 30 homes at Delta Beach.
May 25: About 1400 people and 40 business owners continue to be under evacuation orders in Brandon, as water from the swollen Assiniboine River is getting into the area's sewer system through a damaged sewer cover that is underwater. If the sewer pump station fails, the water would flow through the sewers into the basements of 500 homes in the flood prone area of the city.
May 31: Hundreds of residents from communities along Lake Manitoba, including St. Laurent, Woodlands and Delta Beach, were ordered to evacuate today, as winds up to 90 kph created waves on the already record high Assiniboine that lashed the shoreline, threatening homes and cottages.

Flood Facts

-The 1950 flood forced 100,000 Winnipeggers out of their homes, flooded 10,500 homes, damage over $100 million.
-When the crest hit Emerson in 1997, the Red River was the biggest river in N. America.
-The military response to the 1997 flood in Manitoba has been called the biggest peacetime military operation Canada has ever mounted.
-Altogether the city filled 6.5 million sandbags in 1997since the city owned a sand pit near Bird's Hill, it saved taxpayers about $11 million.
-The drop in elevation from Brunkild to Winnipeg is 25 feet, about the same as from Emerson to Winnipeg, but in a much shorter distance.
-At one point in 1997, the speed of the water south of the floodway was clocked at 25-30 k/hr.
-In '97 about 3000 civic workers were redeployed from normal duties to fight flood
--The 1950 flood reached a high of 30 ft (9.2 m) at Winnipeg. causing the largest evacuation in Canada's history of 100,000 people and $606 million CAD (1997) of damage

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Estimated Red River Crests

Fargo: April 10
Grand Forks: April 14
Emerson: April 24
Morris: April 28
St. Adolphe: May 1
Winnipeg: May 4
Selkirk: May 5

Flood Crests Since Floodway Inception

* Measured from normal winter ice levels at James Ave.

Winnipeg flood crest dates:

1950: May 19
1966: April 14
1979: May 9
1997: May 3
2006: April 7
2009: April 16