High water levels are pitting neighbouring municipalities against each other in a fight to stay dry.
Some regions of the Interlake were hit with up to 125mm of rain last week. It was more than twice the monthly average rainfall -- in 48 hours.
The RM of Armstrong was one of the hardest hit, and the community's drainage system can't keep up.
The water has already destroyed crops, but now it's threatening houses and roads.
"It's going down very slow because all the ditches are plugged with hay and bush and everything," Robert Pidstawka told CTV News. "We're in trouble."
It's not the first time he's been flooded.
Pidstawka says every time there is a heavy rain in the area, the water has nowhere to go.
He's been complaining about the drainage system for years.
Cheryl Gelinas has been complaining too.
"Something has got to be done," she said. "Because we've lost everything because of this"
Her basement is completely under water.
Now she and other flooded residents want officials to plow a road into the neighboring RM of Bifrost, to release the excess water.
But officials in the RM of Bifrost say their ditches are already running at capacity. They say more water would only flood their farmers' fields, destroying over $250,000 in crops.
Gelinas doesn't buy that argument.
"Crops are replaceable," she said, "but we've lost things that are invaluable."
East Interlake conservation officials say drains in the region need to be cleaned from Lake Winnipeg to the Icelandic River. They're now in the process of figuring out which ones will be done first.
But it's little consolation to residents like Gelinas and Pidstawka.
For now they'll have to wait for all the water to go down, and then salvage what's left of their belongings.
Manitoba Water Stewardship says overland flooding in the area will continue for at least the next four days.
With a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout.
