A flood of praise

Now we're much better protected

By , Winnipeg Sun

First posted: | Updated:

If you want to bring a smile to Steve Topping's face, ask him how much better the Red River Valley is protected against flooding compared with the 1997 Flood of the Century.

"I enjoy answering this question," said Topping, a senior official at Manitoba Water Stewardship who has seen more than his share of floods in Manitoba, including the big one 12 years ago. "We are in tremendous shape."

It doesn't get a lot of public attention, but the expansion of the floodway isn't the only major improvement in flood-protection in the valley since 1997.

Pretty impressive

It's the most obvious one and some might argue the most important. It now protects Manitoba's capital city against one-in-700 year floods, which is pretty impressive.

However, it's the flood-proofing that has quietly taken place outside of Winnipeg since 1997 that has really made the Red River Valley so much better protected against flooding than it was in the 1990s.

"We would estimate that 95% of the valley is protected to the '97 plus two-foot level," said Topping. "There are 1,730 individual homes, businesses and farmyards that are now protected, either by raising on pads or ring dikes around their property, or homes that were relocated into non-flood prone areas."

It's a massive difference from 1997, which I personally witnessed during a number of tours of the valley at the time, including two by helicopter.

There were hundreds of homes, farms and businesses all over the valley under water, with no protection whatsoever.

There used to be only eight communities protected by ring dikes. There are now 18, and they're all two feet above 1997 levels.

Even in the City of Winnipeg there has been new diking erected to protect areas that were under water in 1997.

There is now enhanced diking along Kingston Crescent, North Drive, Kilkenny Drive and Parkwood Place.

And by law, any new developments in the valley must be compliant with 1997 levels plus two feet.

So even if we were hit with a flood as bad or slightly worse than 1997, we would not experience the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages we saw 12 years ago.

It's not just improved flood protection that puts Manitoba on the cutting edge of flood fighting, either.

Manitoba Water Stewardship now has a massive hydrometric network of water gauges that can pinpoint water levels in different parts of the valley for flood forecasters.

It's something we didn't have in 1997.

"These are the gauges that we use to measure flows and elevations in river and lakes," said Topping. "We have a network of 106 stations that now transmit real-time information into our offices."

Naturally, there's always the 5% of homes, farms or businesses that are not protected to 1997 levels plus two feet who will fall between the cracks.

Ice jams also cause particular problems for flood fighting. You can't operate the floodway, for example, until the ice jams in Winnipeg break up.

But you have to hand it to Manitoba Water Stewardship and the Emergency Measures Organization for the incredible progress they've made in forecasting floods, preparing for them, protecting Manitobans against them and handling the crisis when it comes.

They've done a hell of a good job.

For more, visit Brodbeck's blog Raise a Little Hell at winnipegsun.com. Reach Tom at 632-2742 or by e-mail at tom.brodbeck@sunmedia.ca.

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