Municipal crews are working to clear an ice jam that has caused flooding in Winnipeg Beach.
Winnipeg Beach Mayor Tony Pimentel said heavy rain Wednesday night caused the ice on the creek to break up.
The ice flowed down Boundary Creek, blocking a culvert running under Prospect Street and into the town’s marina. The water rose, flowing over the road and onto nearby properties, and flooding a basement of a nearby house.
Don Emes, emergency measures co-ordinator for Winnipeg Beach, said this has been an especially bad year for blocked culverts due to the fluctuating freeze-thaw cycle of the last couple months, which has led to layers of ice building up and breaking off.
“It plugs it up worse than it would even be in a normal year,” he said.
An excavator and back-hoe are working to clear the jam, and Emes said he expected they to clear the jam on Thursday.
“I’m optimistic that by noon we should be getting ahead of it,” he said. “With the rain that came down yesterday, it came down pretty good and that has to work its way through the system yet.”
Emes said many communities in the area are experiencing similar problems and urged people to be patient as municipal crews work to clear the culverts. He said most of the big drains are clear and flowing properly.
WINNIPEG BEACH HOMEOWNER SPEAKS
Helma Rogge Rehders woke up Thursday morning around 5:30 and heard water gushing into the basement of her Winnipeg Beach home.
She looked outside and noticed her home surrounded by water from nearby Boundary Creek, which runs along her backyard.
"I didn't expect to see what I saw...that the water had risen as far as my windows in the basement," said Rogge Rehders. "It looked like I was living in the lake."
The water started to recede after crews cleared an ice jam in a culvert near the marina at Winnipeg Beach.
With files from Josh Crabb
