Flood fears easing in southern Manitoba as Assiniboine River level drops

WINNIPEG - Flood fears are easing in much of southern Manitoba.

The province's Emergency Measures Minister, Steve Ashton, says the Assiniboine River is dropping near Portage la Prairie and dikes along the river have held.

Evacuation orders have been lifted for Delta Beach.

Ashton says credit goes to crews, volunteers and the military, who filled hundreds of thousands of sandbags.

The worries are not completely over, however, because a second crest on the Assiniboine has started rising in western Manitoba.

Homes in St. Lazare are being protected by a dike, but three homes outside the dike have been damaged.

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  Water flows nears the Portage la Prairie area in Manitoba on July 9, 2014, hours before the Assiniboine River's first crest reached it.