Flooding still has communities across southwestern Manitoba on alert Tuesday night. More than 60 communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are under states of emergency and more than 500 people have been forced to leave their home.

The situation in our province appears to be holding for now and shifting to a clean-up mode. Water levels from overland flooding have begun to recede, but high water on the Assiniboine River threatens to cause problems.

Even as the effects of a weekend storm still linger in Brandon, the city braces for another problem. The storm dropped hundreds of millimetres of rain across much of Saskatchewan and western Manitoba, water that now makes its way into the Assiniboine River.

"We're not sure how much water is coming down,” said Brian Kayes, emergency coordinator for the City of Brandon. “We expect probably more than what we saw this spring, so we're getting ready for the worst-case situation. We're getting ready for a bigger event than what we're seeing right now."

Although flows on the Assiniboine are expected to increase, water levels would have to rise significantly to approach the high-water mark of the 2011 flood.

"Probably for us, worst-case situation would be like 2011,” said Kayes. “We're not expecting it to go there, but in our back pocket, we're kind of ready for that."

Premier Greg Selinger stopped in Brandon to survey the situation before making his way to communities in the southwest. Overland flooding there forced about 200 people from their homes.

"Those people have suffered enormously, and we know all the volunteers and the local people did everything they could to protect those homes,” said Selinger. “When people have to evacuate their homes, our hearts go out to them, and we want to make sure we can get them home as quickly as possible."

In Virden, people suffered through anxious moments as water breached their sandbagging efforts.

"We decided to come over to my aunt's,” said volunteer Corie Williams.“She's been calling since 5:00 in the morning. Their place is underwater, so we've been here doing that ever since. Everyone's getting a little tired, but they keep going."

A mandatory evacuation forced about 50 people from their homes in that neighbourhood. Fortunately for them, water levels had begun to recede by Tuesday morning.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the City of Brandon announced it's preparing for a sharp influx of water from Saskatchewan to arrive. The city says it's preparing the dike system to manage the rise.

Crews will be blocking several storm sewer outflows to prevent river water from backing up into manholes.  The dike and a dozen additional pumps will be placed at key areas along the system.

A state of local emergency in Brandon remains in place. The city says response crews are monitoring the river forecast and ready to react.
 

Portage Diversion, Red River Floodway in operation

To help the reduce the worries about excess water coming from the west, the Portage Diversion has been lifted to divert water.

The hope is to reduce the rising water level on the Assiniboine River. but some municipalities say Lake Manitoba is high enough, and don't want it opened.

Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., the gates were lifted at the Red River Floodway. Water is being diverted so Winnipeg basements don't get flooded.

Still, high water warnings have been issued.
 

Road closures in effect across Manitoba

A bridge failure has been closed along provincial Highway 257, just west of the Trans-Canada Highway going to Kola

The Trans-Canada from Virden to Saskatchewan was closed, but it has re-opened. There is now one lane for traffic in each direction.

New highways closed Canada Day include provincial Highway 367 to Child's Lake, 452 between 83 to Napinka, parts of Highway 419, Highway 41, and 83.

The Lyleton border crossing on Highway 256 also closed, due to flooding.  

For any information on roads, people can call 511 or go to www.mb511.ca.

- With a report by Ben Miljure