Manitoba Floods 2014

[Edward Campbell]

There are reports, on the radio (CBC) and in some newspapers that wetlands drainage is, partially, to blame ... I think I heard that MB has banned further wetlands drainage but SK has not. Can any locals/experts comment, please?

 

[George Wallace]

With Manitoba being at the receiving end of all the rain from Alberta and Saskatchwan combined, as well as all the Northern States that feed the Red River, it only seems that it would naturally be the repository of all that water before it dumps into Hudson Bay.  I don't think Wetlands drainage is really the sole culprit.

 

[FJAG]

The whole danger to Brandon is totally the fault of city council and local developers. The area where the big box stores are and the housing built up against the river has always flooded every spring. I was shocked when I heard that the city was going to develop that area.

"Shocked" - No. Not in the least.

I lived in Brandon from 84-06 and the decision was quite typical of both.

18th Street had more and more developed into the city's primary retail artery and Kircaldy drive strip at the base of the North Hill was prime level land for development if one ignored the fact that it was part of a flood plain. The point was that its flooding was not then been a severe annual event.  The dyke which existed prior to the development had held things well in check (and with recent improvements, still does).

I expect that the risk v. benefit analysis was favourable so the thing went ahead. With the flooding events of the last few years the "I told you so's" - who included me and virtually everyone I knew - got to have a field day.

Brandon's issue is a relatively minor one. I was in Winnipeg for the 1997 flood and have seen pictures of how far it extended in 1950. The fact is that the entire Assiniboine/Red River systems are on low flat lands prone to flooding when winter snowfall and spring rain events combine. The historical population spread of the mid to late 1800s followed the rivers. People built on flood plains because they were good farmland and had access to transportation. Even rail lines were built in cose proximity to the rivers. It's not easy to undo a century plus of risk taking.

:cheers:

 

[FJAG]

There are reports, on the radio (CBC) and in some newspapers that wetlands drainage is, partially, to blame ... I think I heard that MB has banned further wetlands drainage but SK has not. Can any locals/experts comment, please?

Can't comment on Saskatchewan but in Manitoba the "Water Rights Act" states that any diversion or control of surface or ground water is vested in the crown and that no works, maintenance etc etc can be undertaken without a licence. Farmers are allowed to do surface drainage improvements on their own land without a licence so long as there is no change in the off land outflow from that prior to the improvements.

Prairie lands are flat and generally with heavy snow and rainfall there are widespread sloughs, wetlands or just poorly drained fields which farmers all want to improve in order to increase productive acreage. Licensing has curbed some of the worst excesses but sometimes the issue relates to government works. There is a court case which has now limped along for several decades by farmers of the Whitemud watershed (a very large region west of and draining into Lake Manitoba) where government drainage improvements allegedly caused and continue to cause flooding damage to hundreds of farmers.

:cheers:

 

[nycndp]

There are reports, on the radio (CBC) and in some newspapers that wetlands drainage is, partially, to blame ... I think I heard that MB has banned further wetlands drainage but SK has not. Can any locals/experts comment, please?

With Manitoba being at the receiving end of all the rain from Alberta and Saskatchwan combined, as well as all the Northern States that feed the Red River, it only seems that it would naturally be the repository of all that water before it dumps into Hudson Bay.  I don't think Wetlands drainage is really the sole culprit.

The jet stream has done a number on us this whole year.  The polar vortex is still stuck over that area, giving the upper (U.S.) Midwest and the eastern two Prairie Provinces lots of rain and cool weather, and the U.S. Northeast some, but not as much cool weather. Been over 32 only twice this summer in NYC, and normal by now is about 10 times.

This past winter was a "polar vortex" winter with the same areas being unbelievably cold and snowy.

Thus the floods.