Manitoba community using drone technology to prepare for spring flooding
With the spring thaw in full effect, now is the time for flood prone communities to start preparing.
The RM of St. Andrews will be getting early warning of trouble this season as they’re using drone technology to get an advance look at developing problems.
One of the residents who will benefit from this technology is Mac Pulling, who was forced to evacuate after his street got a torrent of water back in 2015.
“I was sitting on my front deck and I watched it, the water going over,” he said. “And I said, ‘Oh, it’s time to go to town.’”
Pulling knew there was a good chance of flooding that year, but he didn’t know exactly when to expect it.
In the annual flood fight, officials say this is pretty common.
“In the last decade we wouldn’t be able to react till we were actually in a situation where we had an ice jam, and water was beginning to back up. So we were very reactive,” said Brent Olynyk, CAO of the RM of St. Andrews.
Today the RM is able to get an early warning thanks to drone technology.
Earlier this week, the RM conducted its first drone flight of the season to capture aerial footage of the ice conditions along the Red River. The idea is to monitor for any potential risk of ice jamming and watch how and where the ice is moving each day.
“[We are] able to warn ourselves and say get ready in the next 12 or 15 hours, we could be experiencing a problem,” Olynyk said.
Mayor Joy Sul said having 15 hours notice instead of 15 minutes is a huge advantage for people in the community.
“Residents can go on the website and see exactly what’s happening at that at that moment, how the water is moving, where the water is breaking up and if there is going to be a jam, where it’s going to be,” Sul said.
Pulling said he appreciates the early warning after years of sudden surprises.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
Israel's war cabinet minister moves to dissolve parliament: statement
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve parliament in a bid to bring about an early election, his party said in a statement on Thursday.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
DEVELOPING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., begins RBC Canadian Open defence
Nick Taylor begins the defence of his RBC Canadian Open title this morning.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.