Manitoba towns brace for raging Souris River

More than 85 homes are under a mandatory evacuation order in the Manitoba town of Souris as officials prepare forfloodwaters to arrive from North Dakota.

Sven Kreusch, the emergency measures co-ordinator for Souris, said the evacuations 65 new ones on top of 21 evacuated two weeks ago are aprecautionary measure, so crews can build up the town's dike without traffic in the area.

The people in those 65 homes must be out by 4 p.m. Monday.

"The river is quite fast, it's coming up quite rapidly, so we have a very short timeline to build what we need to build," he said.

Thetown has requested military help to build up dikes but has not yet received a response.

In the nearby town ofMelita, preparations are also underway for the coming water and businessesare hustling to get their equipment to higher ground.

'We have a very short timeline to build what we need to build.' Sven Kreusch, Souris emergency measures co-ordinator

An areaknown as machinery row is the most at-risk for flooding andcrews havebeen working since Saturday to build up the dikes.

The John Deere dealership is moving to the town's arena and residents ina trailer park located in a low-lying area have been givenevacuation notices.

Many residents have also beentakingfurniture to thearena, which is filling up withchairs, tables, sofas, and anything else that can bemoved out ofat-risk homes.

Similar scenes are being played out in the communities of Hartney and Wawanesa, which are all located along the winding river that has, until this year, flowed placidly by.

This year, it has been bloated by heavy spring snowmelt and rain on both sides of the border. The river starts in Saskatchewan then loops down through north-central North Dakota before returning north to Manitoba and merging with theAssiniboine River at Treesbank.

Itcrested Sunday in Minot, N.D., reaching levels not seen in 130 years. The Souris swamped an estimated 4,000 homes and forced between 11,000 and 12,000out of neighbourhoods nearest the river.

Prior to that, it also caused havoc across southeastern Saskatchewan, where a number of communitiesdeclared states of emergency to deal with flooded homes, businesses and crumbling roads.

Thirdsurge

Now Manitoba is bracing for itsthird surge from the river, which was swollen in Aprildue to the spring melt then again in mid-June from heavy rains.

The Souris will first reach Melita, a town of slightly more than 1,000 in southwest Manitoba, between July 5-7.

Doug Calverly, who owns Doug's Mobile Service and Repair along machinery row, isstaying put to try and protect his business. He ismanning the pumps to try and keep the seepage at bay but doesn't really know what to expect.

'We're past worried. We're just hanging in there.' Doug Calverly, Melita business owner

"We're past worried. We're just hanging in there," he said. "Nobody seems to know exactly any numbers so we've just built for the worst and we've re-diked around the shop again."

Hartney, a village of 400 peopleis next before the river reaches Souris between July 6-8. The waterway is expected to rise another three metres by then.

The largest of the towns along the river's Manitoba path, with a population ofabout 1,700 people, Sourisishome to Canada's longest cable-suspensionfootbridge, known as the Swinging Bridge.

But Kreusch is not sure it can be saved. The current is already too fast for crews toriskthemselves to trypulling it out, he said.

He believes that once theriver reaches thelowest part of the bridge, the current willrip it away.

The crest will move on toWawanesa, a village ofabout 500 people, July 7-9 before merging with the Assiniboine about 20 kilometres northeast of the village.