'Province hasn’t done much': slow flood clean-up in West Hawk Lake area

Debris and rocks washed into the road from flooding at West Hawk Lake. (Source: Shaun Harbottle)

West Hawk Lake residents are unhappy with the province’s slow clean-up response after torrential rain and flooding rolled through the area earlier this week.

“Washed out roads, flooded basements,” said Shaun Harbottle, owner of Crescent Beach Cottages, “A lot of the infrastructure through the town was washed out. Province hasn’t done much.”

The area in southeastern Manitoba saw up to 41 mm of precipitation fall over three days. One video posted to Facebook shows rushing water flooding down the steps of the West Hawk marina into the lake.

Harbottle says the flooding also washed debris onto the roads, and not all of it has been cleaned up yet.

“There are rocks all over the road,” he said. “You’d think you would be trying to get it cleaned up before the weekend, but no.”

Harbottle added that cars that have been damaged hitting the rocks that are being left on the road, which adds to the problem.

Harbottle says he did see a Manitoba Parks vehicle inspecting the damage, but so far, there has been no clean-up.

“A little quicker response, instead of just driving around and looking at everything,” he said.

CTV News Winnipeg has reached out to the province for an update but has not yet received a response.

It’s a hiccup in what has otherwise been an “okay” season for Harbottle. He says the inconsistent weather has scared some vacationers away. However, he says the marina is open again, after being closed earlier in the season for flooding.

Ironically, Harbottle says that the COVID-19 pandemic had the opposite effect on his business than others.

“For us, COVID was very busy. We hadn’t seen that kind of business since the ‘70s,” he said.

“No one wanted to stay in Winnipeg, they couldn’t leave the province, they couldn’t leave the country, so they came out to the Whiteshell.”