River update
Flood forecast to be 2nd worst in 100 years: forecasters.
The flood forecast for Manitoba keeps getting worse, with officials announcing on Wednesday that the peak flow of the Red River in Winnipeg will exceed the flood of 1950.
The province's chief flood forecaster, Alf Warkentin, said Wednesday the anticipated crest level for Winnipeg is more than a half-metre higher than what officials were predicting on Tuesday.
"It's a very serious concern for the city," he said at a flood briefing.
The crest, expected to pass through the Winnipeg within the next couple of days, is forecast to be 6.78 metres. Only the flood of 1997, with a crest of 7.35 metres, was worse in the past 100 years.
If not for the floodway diverting water around the city, the 2009 crest would actually be 9.1 metres, officials said.
That there river's gettin' pretty high! Our street was blocked off yesterday afternoon when we got home because of all the people out sandbagging. The street was just crawling with people. I also wasn't too keen on screwing up my back anymore than it is (I don't know what I did, but I was in some seriously pain Tuesday night), so we didn't call to volunteer. (Of course, knowing the city's 311 system, they'd send us to freaking St. Norbert on the far south end of the city - a 45 minute drive away - to sandbag, rather than letting us walk down the street.) Our house was shaking all night with the trucks driving up and down the street to drop off sandbags.
It's been an exhausting ride. First they were saying it would be bad. Then they said it would be negligible. Then they said it would be up to 1979 levels. Then they said it would be lower. Then they said it would be just above 1979 levels. Now they're doing the whole ZOMG OMG AAAAA FLOOD thing, which isn't reassuring. That, and they're saying we can look forward to several more WEEKS of this. :P
Extra bad: We live just downstream from where the Assiniboine River runs into the Red River. They are now thinking that both rivers will crest in Winnipeg at the same time. o.o We're going to try and check out the river at the park (where I was taking those photos before) today, and we might go back on the weekend when it's expected to crest.
On Tuesday the Prime Minister made his obligatory visit, blah blah federal disaster aid, blah. Now, back when this whole thing started they said that the Canadian military was on standby to help. Apparently they're only going to come out if Winnipeg is in danger of being swept away? Not that I'm keen on seeing armored troop carriers on the streets, but I'm sure that residents along the river would be grateful for having help monitoring their dikes for leakage or weakness - that's a 24-hr job.
The flood forecast for Manitoba keeps getting worse, with officials announcing on Wednesday that the peak flow of the Red River in Winnipeg will exceed the flood of 1950.
The province's chief flood forecaster, Alf Warkentin, said Wednesday the anticipated crest level for Winnipeg is more than a half-metre higher than what officials were predicting on Tuesday.
"It's a very serious concern for the city," he said at a flood briefing.
The crest, expected to pass through the Winnipeg within the next couple of days, is forecast to be 6.78 metres. Only the flood of 1997, with a crest of 7.35 metres, was worse in the past 100 years.
If not for the floodway diverting water around the city, the 2009 crest would actually be 9.1 metres, officials said.
That there river's gettin' pretty high! Our street was blocked off yesterday afternoon when we got home because of all the people out sandbagging. The street was just crawling with people. I also wasn't too keen on screwing up my back anymore than it is (I don't know what I did, but I was in some seriously pain Tuesday night), so we didn't call to volunteer. (Of course, knowing the city's 311 system, they'd send us to freaking St. Norbert on the far south end of the city - a 45 minute drive away - to sandbag, rather than letting us walk down the street.) Our house was shaking all night with the trucks driving up and down the street to drop off sandbags.
It's been an exhausting ride. First they were saying it would be bad. Then they said it would be negligible. Then they said it would be up to 1979 levels. Then they said it would be lower. Then they said it would be just above 1979 levels. Now they're doing the whole ZOMG OMG AAAAA FLOOD thing, which isn't reassuring. That, and they're saying we can look forward to several more WEEKS of this. :P
Extra bad: We live just downstream from where the Assiniboine River runs into the Red River. They are now thinking that both rivers will crest in Winnipeg at the same time. o.o We're going to try and check out the river at the park (where I was taking those photos before) today, and we might go back on the weekend when it's expected to crest.
On Tuesday the Prime Minister made his obligatory visit, blah blah federal disaster aid, blah. Now, back when this whole thing started they said that the Canadian military was on standby to help. Apparently they're only going to come out if Winnipeg is in danger of being swept away? Not that I'm keen on seeing armored troop carriers on the streets, but I'm sure that residents along the river would be grateful for having help monitoring their dikes for leakage or weakness - that's a 24-hr job.