'Residents are weary': Community stressed as Red River expected to crest in Morris

One Manitoba community is feeling the stress as they brace for the Red River to crest in Morris.

“Residents are weary. Residents have been fighting the flood,” said Ralph Groening, reeve of the RM of Morris, in an interview on Thursday.

He noted that over the past few weeks, residents have been worried by the rising waters and continuous rainy forecasts. Groening added that the farming community is also itching to get to work.

“I would say the level of personal stress is a concern for us, for all of our residents,” he said.

As the reeve of the RM, Groening said they are facing a “human challenge,” because 50 homes had to evacuate.

“That’s our focus – to ensure their safety and to communicate with them and allow them to evacuate safely,” he said.

Another major concern for Groening is infrastructure, which he said will require a lot of work once the water levels go down.

Groening added that dozens of roads have been washed out and a number of culverts have been damaged.

“The remediation of our infrastructure’s going to be a huge task,” he said.

As for sandbagging efforts, the reeve said there has not been a huge demand, and the municipality has distributed about 10,000.

With more rain expected this weekend, the reeve said they are going to do everything they can to keep people safe.

“Our preparation continues to be the same, because we prepared originally for 2009 to 1997 flood levels.”

- With files from CTV’s Ainsley McPhail.