‘There’s just lots of devastation’

Evacuee Sevanna Delaronde was in disbelief after she and her partner returned to their flooded neighbourhood to check on their home in Swan River Thursday morning.

She estimated their basement was under more than a metre of water from the Swan River, which overflowed following heavy rains and forced a mandatory evacuation of several streets Wednesday afternoon.

“The water breached the windows in the night and the river is still surrounding our place,” an emotional Delaronde said.

“There’s just lots of devastation. I know a lot of people have lost more than me. They had no time to get out because it came too fast.”

Water levels appeared to be receding Thursday, she said.

Mayor Lance Jacobson said up to 200 homes flooded within the town, along with some in the surrounding Municipality of Swan Valley West.

“We have to go each day at a time and do our planning, and see how we can start getting people back in here to start cleaning it up,” he said. “As far as this happening before — never. This is truly unprecedented.”

There was no timeline for the return of evacuees. Some businesses also flooded.

Flooding was widespread in the Parkland region, including Dauphin. Swan River and Minitonas were among the places hit for the second time in less than a month.

Many highways and gravel roads washed out or were deliberately cut to allow floodwater to flow, isolating some communities.

After being cut off from emergency services, Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, was one of the latest communities to declare a state of local emergency.

Premier Wab Kinew said the province has asked the federal government for the military’s help in communities such as Swan River, where flood-fighting efforts were “active” and a “gargantuan” cleanup will be necessary.

“Right now, the biggest need is to make sure they get the resources, the supplies, the pumps, the sandbags to be able to stabilize the situation,” he told reporters during a visit to tour of flood-affected areas from the air.

Conservative MP Dan Mazier, whose Riding Mountain constituency includes flood-hit areas in Parkland, also requested federal support, including military assistance.

“Just to get the military support, even the air support, to get supplies in so they can start rebuilding and getting infrastructure rebuilt, I think the federal government needs to step up,” he said.

In a statement, federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski acknowledged the request for assistance, but didn’t say what kind of help will come from Ottawa.

“We are working with the province to assess evolving local needs so together we can determine the best ways to support the flood response on the ground to ensure Manitobans get the help they need,” she said.

Kinew said the provincial disaster financial assistance stage will look at rebuilding resilient infrastructure, including roads and water and wastewater systems.

“It’s not just about building back the same thing we had before. Now that we’ve seen what can happen with the changing climate, we need to build infrastructure that is going to meet that need,” he said.

The province is providing $5 million in disaster financial assistance to help municipalities rebuild roads and otherwise respond to flooding.

“Folks in the Parkland have seen flooding before, but not like this,” Kinew said. “Not to this extent, not to this scale and not hitting as many areas of the region at the same time.”

Services were disrupted at Dauphin Regional Health Centre after water filled its basement and power was cut. More than 50 patients were moved to other hospitals. The emergency department is closed until further notice.

Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn, the MLA for Dauphin, said farms are being assessed after historic flooding.

“Our first line of defence is crop insurance,” he said, noting the AgriStability program exists for producers who suffer financial losses.

In Swan River, Delaronde, her partner and two of their children are staying with friends after they and their neighbours were forced to abandon sandbagging efforts and leave their homes on Crescent Drive Wednesday while the river continued to rise.

Residents scrambled to salvage precious belongings and move items to higher ground as water filled their basements.

“It was coming out of the shower, it was coming out of the toilet,” Delaronde said. “We just focused on getting what we could out of our basement and saving as much as we could.”

She said the couple’s home insurance policy did not have flood coverage. A rental home owned by the couple in Minitonas flooded in early June.

Crescent Drive evacuee Kurt Rewerts said family and friends helped to sandbag his family’s home at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“By 5 a.m. the water was (up) to the sandbags and coming around from the front of the house. From there, it was all downhill,” he said. His basement was full of water and his house surrounded by the river Thursday.

“Obviously, we’re devastated,” said Rewerts, who is staying with relatives, along with his wife and their two children. “The fight right now is to try to get roads opened up so we can get resources here to help.”

The “silver lining,” he said, is how residents rallied to build sandbag dikes, deliver and run water pumps or provide food to those trying to protect homes. A donation centre for essentials was overwhelmed.

“It’s just incredible how this town has come together,” Rewerts said. “There were people everywhere helping — friends, family and people they didn’t know. It’s times like this you definitely see the best in humanity, and I’m very proud to be part of this community.”

Swan River is home to about 4,000 people. Rewerts and Delaronde said the most important thing is everyone’s safety — belongings can be replaced and homes can be rebuilt.

“There is going to be lots to clean up, and I do hope the help is there when that happens,” Delaronde said. “It’s not just Swan River. There are many areas that are needing services and supports.”

Winnipeg resident Jerrod Cox and his two children were stranded at their family’s cottage at Wellman Lake in Duck Mountain Provincial Park after roads washed out.

Cox said they were hoping to leave via a highway where provincial staff were filling gaps.

“We’re going to try to zig-zag our way up to Minitonas and then up to Swan River, and then zig-zag our way through Saskatchewan and try to go home,” he said. “Fingers crossed.”

The drive from Duck Mountain to Winnipeg normally takes about five hours. Cox expected the detour to take a few hours longer.

He said he was “a little stressed out” while stranded, but he and his children were fortunate to be in a cabin.

Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak said the city of more than 8,000 people is in “cleanup mode” after Vermillion River floodwaters receded. He estimated hundreds of homes were damaged by overland flooding or sewer backups.

When the Vermillion River floods in the spring, it usually fills a park of the same name, Bosiak said.

“This time around, with the amount of water that was coming and the rain that had fallen in the Riding Mountain area and to the west of us, it came hard and fast, and it hit with a vengeance during the night,” he said.

Municipalities have not yet been able to do a full assessment of damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

The Rural Municipality of Dauphin probably has about 400 washed out sections of roads, Reeve Ernie Sirski said.

“We’ve got people who are landlocked, people who can’t get out of their houses right now,” he said.

— with files from Mike Deal, Nicole Buffie and Morgan Modjeski

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca