Selkirk braces for possible flooding as ice jam raises river levels

Rising water levels on the Red River near Selkirk, Man., have crews speeding up flood preparations today.

An ice jam south of Selkirk and rising riverlevels have officials concerned about a dike that surrounds Selkirk Park.

Darrell Kupchik, the City of Selkirk's emergency measures co-ordinator, told CBC Newsthe park has been closed and heavy machines have been brought out to raise the dike by another metre.

The dike is being raised as a precaution, as more water and ice from Winnipeg are expected to arrive at the park on Monday afternoon, Kupchik said.

Kupchik said crews have alsoadded about a metre of clay to dikes in the park.

This clay that we're adding should give us hopefully enough freeboard to save the park, said Kupchik.

Over at theMarine Museum of Manitoba, staff are moving some of its contentsto higher ground as a precautionary measure.

The Red Rivercrested in Emerson over the weekend and flood forecasters say the crest isexpected south of the floodway inlet Tuesday or Wednesday.

• Red River to crest in Emerson over Easter weekend

They said the flow at Emerson was around 37,000 cubic feet per second (cfs).

According to forecasters, theice cover in Winnipeg is still strong both on the Red and on the AssiniboineRivers,and that is causing water levels to be almost 60 centimetreshigher than they would otherwise be.

By the time the crest reaches Winnipeg, flowswill be in the order of 42,500 to 43,500 cfs.

The James Avenue level in Winnipeg Sunday morning was 16.8 ft., an increase of 1.6 ft. over the last 24 hours.

Ice has 'nowhere to go'

Earlier on Monday, the CBC's Meagan Fiddler said there's open water south of the Selkirk Bridge, andice chunks on the riverwere moving fast.

But she said north of the bridge, it's a different story.

"North of me, where the Selkirk Park is, all that ice is jamming up and it's got nowhere to go," she said.

"That's because further north, I took a look around theHighway4bridge where the ice is still solid and the ice jams just really have nowhere to go. They're just not ready to move yet."

The province issued ahigh water advisory on Sundayfor streams in eastern Manitoba, east of the Red River and south of the Winnipeg River.

Forecasters said the Red River is spilling naturally into the Red River Floodway,but the floodwayis not in operation.