In a bulletin released Sunday afternoon, the province said the Assiniboine River had crested in Brandon and the city’s flood mitigation efforts had been successful.
A second crest at Brandon is expected to happen on July 17 or 18 but at levels below those seen on Sunday.
The province said work continues on three fronts downstream to prepare for high flows on the lower Assiniboine between the Portage Diversion and Headingley.
Dikes in the area are being reinforced to handle flows of 18,000 cubic feet per second over the next several days.
Additionally, three provincial sandbag machines are in the area and produced more than 80,000 sandbags on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon, 400 members of the Canadian Forces were helping with that effort and provincial officials expected that number to increase to 500 by the end of the day.
The Portage Diversion was redirecting almost 15,000 cfs of water from the Assiniboine River and flows on downstream from there were 15,150 cfs on Sunday.
The province said water levels on the river downstream from the diversion are expected to be about one foot higher than in 2011 and advised all landowners on the lower Assiniboine to immediately take steps to protect their properties from the high flows.
Work remains underway preparing for a controlled breach of the dike at Hoop and Holler if flows appear high enough to possibly cause an uncontrolled breach somewhere else along the river.
Provincial officials stressed Sunday that the controlled breach option was a measure of last resort and would be avoided if possible.
