Flood waters cause another closure of Highway 75, impacting one Manitoba town

Continued flooding in southern Manitoba has closed down another stretch of Highway 75, and now one town is blocked on three sides.

The Town of Morris has been surrounded by flood waters and it is causing detours and headaches for those in the area.

“We have huge sections of roads covered in water. There will be really significant infrastructure damage and we will have a lot of remedial work that has to be done,” said Ralph Groening, the reeve of the R.M. of Morris.

With the closures on Highway 75, drivers are now taking a wide detour around the water.

“Everyone along the Red River will be impacted. We have workers that go to our public workshop in Rosenort. They have a significant detour.”

The detours are also impacting the trucking industry. The Manitoba Trucking Association said it’s added an extra 165 kilometres to cover and a couple of hundred more dollars in gas each trip – affecting many trucks trying to cross the border at Emerson.

“It’s a bit hard to quantify. I’d suggest hundreds, if not thousands. What will be happening is people might be finding other ports to route traffic through with other detour implications as well,” said Aaron Dolyniuk, the executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association.

Despite roads being impacted in the area, officials say there hasn’t been much property damage. But an emergency centre has been set up for those who do need help.

“We are ready to respond to any concerns,” said Groening. “Questions that you do have, we will work with people they have to be evacuated. Give us a call and our emergency coordinator will provide the support. We are there to work for our community.”

The RM said around two dozen properties are under threat right now, mainly due to access roads being flooded.

The RM added the main goal right now is to prevent Rosenort from being isolated by flood waters and they are currently trying to raise the road there to prevent it from being submerged.