Flood-protection engineers to gather more data on 3 Manitoba rivers

Manitoba flood-protection engineers will spend the next three years gathering more accurate data aboutproperty elevations in three river basins to help protect against high water in the future.

The province and Ottawa announced plans on Thursday to spend a combined $1.6 million over the next three years on elevation surveys along the SourisRiver in southwestern Manitoba, the Whitemud River in south-central Manitoba and the lower reaches of the AssiniboineRiver.

The work will involve the use of a pulsed-laser survey technology known as lidar(a namederived from "light" and "radar")to gauge elevations of properties at risk of flooding along the rivers in question.

"You know clearly there is historical data, but this will give us the real science behind where you are in danger if you're going to be building any kind of development," Manitoba InfrastructureMinister Ron Schuler said at a press conference at The Forks.

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Schuler said whilethe province will share the elevation data with Manitoba municipalities,his government has no plans to dictate property-development plans in low-lying areas, he said.

While developmentin low-lying areas along the AssiniboineRiver was discouraged in the years following the 1976 AssiniboineRiver flood, restrictions were eased in the ensuing decades. This led to the need to protect low-lying properties in Brandon and other areas of the Assiniboineduring major floods in 2011 and 2014.

The SourisRiver, which begins in Saskatchewan near Weyburnbefore flowing into North Dakota and eventually into Manitoba, also experienced major flooding in 2011. It flows into the AssiniboineRiver near Treesbank, southeast of Brandon.

The WhitemudRiver begins at Neepawa and flows through Gladstone and Westbourne before emptying into Lake Manitoba.

The lower Assiniboineruns from Portage la Prairie into Winnipeg andis perched above the flood plain for much of this stretch, making it more difficult to protect against flooding.