Lakeshore residents return home as evacuation order cancelled; flood conditions improved

The RM of Lakeshore has cancelled the evacuation order it issued Tuesday, allowing residents to return to their homes.

Though conditions have improved, many residents are still working to prevent further flooding.

“It came very fast,” said Heather Agnew, a resident of Ochre Beach for the last 15 years who also experienced the 2011 flood. “We’re better prepared now, I think is what it is. The winds this time have been just crazy though.”

Damage to Agnew’s property was minimal, affecting her garage and guesthouse after power blew on a sump pump.

“The cord got blown into the water and the ground fault interrupter kicked the power off.”

“We had a lot of neighbours saying, ‘You should be putting sandbags here, here and here,” said Grant Moffat, who has only lived in the area for about a year. “We did the super sandbags on the north side of our garage because they were saying that’s where the waves were going to come in.”

Tidal winds pushed water up onto land even further, causing Herman Wolfe’s dock to be pushed up onto his yard.

“The wave just flipped it over like it was nothing,” he said. “Half of it’s there, half of it’s on the other side of the road.”

In a statement to CTV News, the RM of Lakeshore said while the situation has improved greatly, they are concerned with the water level of Lake Dauphin.