Although it is voiced as a cheery sendoff into competition, the irony is that the child protagonists face unspeakably cruel odds, pitted against one another in a fight-to-the-finish match from which only one can emerge victorious. Without being too much of a spoiler, the main characters win, not by following the rules, but by changing the game.

It would appear that similar odds are in play this year in Manitoba, as farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by excess moisture and multiple flood events are caught in a waiting game — waiting to see if governments determine whether their losses qualify for additional assistance under AgriRecovery.

We recall back in the days when the federal and provincial governments were negotiating the current suite of farm support programs, that some noted the nuance between “programs” and “frameworks.”

AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriInsurance are programs. “AgriRecovery is not a program,” the AAFC website says. “It is a framework which forms the basis by which federal, provincial and territorial governments work together to assess the impacts of disasters on agricultural producers and respond with joint initiatives where there is need for assistance beyond what is available through existing programs.”

While federal and provincial governments have not specifically ruled out an AgriRecovery response to the 2014 floods — the plural is significant here — officials haven’t shown much enthusiasm for initiating the assessment process.

Farm leaders in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are notably pessimistic. Looking at the AgriRecovery Assessment Flow Chart on the AFFC website, it’s easy to see why. There are three preliminary assessment questions: whether the disaster event is a recurring event, whether it is abnormal and whether there are extraordinary costs necessary for recovery. If the answers to those questions are negative, there is no basis for AgriRecovery.

Flooding has become an annual disaster for farmers in many areas, due to a combination of heavy rainfall and excess water coming from someplace else.

Extreme weather has also become the norm. Cloudbursts have proven capable of dumping overwhelming amounts of water within a short period. But it doesn’t do it to everyone, only select pockets. Another criteria for AgriRecovery is whether the disaster was experienced collectively. While some areas of the province appear to be singled out for repeated events, there is no predictable pattern in play.

Absolutely, there are extraordinary costs for recovery, but it doesn’t appear repeated disasters are what AgriRecovery is there to address.

As for existing programs, AgriStability was adjusted in 2012 to require a 30 per cent drop in margin, down from 15 per cent, in order to qualify for a payment. As well, payouts are now based on the lower of a producer’s reference margin or allowable expenses. In short, it’s harder to trigger and the farmer will receive less, much less, than under the previous program.

An accounting analysis commissioned by Keystone Agricultural Producers, based on two producers’ actual records, found payouts based on 2011 would be reduced by half under the new rules.

Coverage under both AgriStability and AgriInsurance ratchets downward with repeated claims, so unless affected farmers have socked funds away in AgriInvest, which is difficult to do when your land is under water, those who are in the creek don’t have a lifeline, much less a paddle.

Farmers pay good money into these “insurance” programs, never anticipating they would be calling upon them repeatedly through no individual fault of their own. They can’t control the weather, nor can they control how people upstream dispose of their excess water. For politicians to suggest that existing programs are somehow adequate for the current circumstances hundreds of Manitoba farmers find themselves facing is a cop-out that will drive more people from the land and further erode the viability of rural communities.

Perhaps these programs aren’t the right tool for addressing these issues, but government has a role and responsibility, just as it did back in the days when a vast region of the Canadian Prairies was on the verge of becoming a desert.

The reality that the gently rolling countryside of western Manitoba now experiences flash flooding after a heavy rainfall event, suggests we now have a broad geographical base that has lost its natural resiliency to weather extremes.

We’d like to be proven wrong, but the odds aren’t in favour of an AgriRecovery program for Manitoba farmers this year. Their survival will be based on whether they can change how they play the farming game.

The post Editorial: The waiting game appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

However, it’s not officially on the table either — at least not yet.

The minister’s office was busy trying to clarify reports emerging from a July 18 press conference with Ritz and provincial agriculture ministers following their meeting in Winnipeg last week.

Those reports, based on comments made at the press conference, indicated AgriRecovery was not being considered in lieu of enhancements made to crop insurance and other disaster assistance programs.

“Well, there are a number of programs that will address the flooding. The DFAA (Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements), PDAP (Provincial Disaster Assistance Program), the province and the federal government, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the federal government will be having discussions on what’s the best way forward in that,” Ritz told reporters.

“Farmers know they are well served by the programs that are there,” said Ritz, adding improvements were made to risk management programs following the 2011 flood.

“The big change between 2011 and this flood is that unseeded acres and flooded acres are now covered under crop insurance,” he said. “So it’s much more bankable and predictable and stable than waiting for an ad hoc payment under something like AgriRecovery.”

However, the minister’s aide later said the minister was actually responding to a question about additional support for producers affected by multi-year losses related to one year’s flood.

There are no provisions within AgriRecovery to cover multi-year losses resulting from one disaster, Ritz said. Following the 2011 flood, some Manitoba farmers saw water linger on their land, making seeding impossible in 2012. They want to be compensated for that lost year, especially where flooding was caused by diverting water away from urban centres like Winnipeg.

In the past, the federal government has been adamant that AgriRecovery is not intended to pay for the same flood more than once, while provincial officials have been equally fervent in stating that discussions with the federal government are ongoing.

• Lingering effects of flood waters not covered by compensation

Ritz confirmed the two levels of government are still talking. “There’s been discussions, but I wouldn’t say it’s moving very far, very fast to change that,” said Ritz.

Ron Kostyshyn, Manitoba’s minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said the province will continue to discuss the issue of multi-year compensation with the federal government both for 2011 and 2014 flooding.

In the meantime, the province is speaking to “a whole gamut of stakeholders” to determine the final impact current flooding will have on the agricultural sector in Manitoba, said Kostyshyn.

Under AgriRecovery, there is a six-step process for determining whether a payment is warranted, beginning with the province requesting an assessment of the disaster.

A joint assessment is undertaken by governments into the scope of the disaster, what producers need, what’s available through existing programs, and whether further assistance is warranted.

At that point, governments determine whether to initiate a joint response through AgriRecovery.

Doug Chorney, president of the Keystone Agricultural producers, said he too was under the impression governments have ruled out using AgriRecovery to offer additional assistance for this year’s flooding.

“I was hoping to see that they were planning to have a robust, strong AgriRecovery program that would get producers through this difficult time, and we didn’t hear that,” he said. “I know this is going to be devastating for producers.”

More than a million acres of cropland had already gone unseeded in Manitoba prior to recent flooding. Chorney estimates that an additional 3.5 million acres have now been lost to high water.

“I think our numbers are solid,” Chorney said, adding he hopes that government changes its tune when it has more information about the number of acres lost.

The province hopes to know the exact cost of the flood in the coming weeks.

Kostyshyn said the province is working to affect flood mitigation works that prevent this kind of flooding in the future.

“This kind of flooding is truly untraditional, but maybe that’s the changes to the weather patterns and maybe we have to live that as the norm,” he said.

The post Hazy disaster aid outlook for flooded farmers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

More than two years after spring flooding wiped out the Souris River bridge between Coulter and Waskada, they’re still waiting on repairs to a key transportation link in their area. In the meantime, area residents as well as oilfield workers must make a lengthy detour until repairs are completed in the spring of 2014.

“It was heavy rains in Saskatchewan. Is that climate change? I don’t know,” said Jim Trewin, reeve of Arthur Municipality. Repairs to the bridge are underway, and he’s heard that it’s going to be built higher and sturdier when it is finished. But elsewhere in his municipality, he sees a lot of other infrastructure that needs to be upgraded simply because it’s past its expiry date.

The damaged bridge is an example of the kind of infrastructure damage a recent report by the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) warns we could see more of in coming years as climate change tests infrastructure that is already past its prime.

Sponsored by the Cement Association of Canada, the review of existing government and private-sector studies and documents lists a range of possible adverse impacts from more intense storm surges, hotter, drier summers, and melting permafrost.

It also notes that 50 per cent of existing public infrastructure will reach the end of its service life by 2027, and added that a 2012 federal report pegged the replacement cost of infrastructure ranked as being “fair” to “very poor” at $171.8 billion nationally.

“With so much of Canada’s infrastructure reaching the end of its life in the very near future, there are opportunities for investments to be rethought and life-cycle costs to be taken into greater consideration. If targeted effectively, new infrastructure investments can significantly improve the long-term resilience of Canada’s infrastructure in the face of climate change,” the report’s authors wrote.

Melita’s “machinery row,” so named for the numerous farm equipment dealerships built near a flood plain alongside the Souris River, has been threatened by spring flooding a number of times in recent years.

“Ever since the 2011 flood, they promised us a new dike, but they are still doing studies on it,” said Trewin. “I don’t know how many more floods will come and go before we finally get it.”

Colin Craig, Prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, wonders who is going to pick up the tab for such a massive rebuilding effort.

“The numbers don’t add up,” he said. “Unless we see radical changes, we’re going to see big tax increases.”

Government spending is already unsustainable, taxes are too high, and making matters worse is the fact that in the coming decades the baby boomer generation is poised to retire, collect pension cheques and need more health care at a time when household debt levels are “extremely high,” added Craig.

In an emailed response, a provincial government spokesman said that engineers are already considering future climate impacts in bridge designs and new routes for northern winter roads, for example.

“The design standard used to be to design bridges for a one-in-50-year flood event, but in some cases recently, the government has already used a one-in-100-year flood event when designing bridges,” adding that under a new design code, the life of bridges was given a boost from 50 years to 75 years due to recent advances in materials and technology.

As for the bridge on the Coulter-Waskada stretch of PR 251, he stated that MIT is anticipating that this bridge will be open to traffic by mid-March 2014, but some approach roadworks will need to be completed in the summer of 2014.

The post Prepare now for future climate havoc, IISD report urges appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“This tax credit is inadequate. It doesn’t even come close to bridging the financial deficit we’re facing in this municipality due to the disaster,” said Earl Zotter, reeve of St. Laurent.

The RM’s tax assessment has plunged from $67 million to $49 million, he added. Shoring up the gap in lost tax revenue would cost $400,000, but the province is only offering $57,000 under the tax credit program.

Without an increase in provincial aid, the tax burden must be shifted from affected areas to unaffected areas such as farmland further inland from the lake.

Zotter’s council is demanding that the province pay the full cost of the damage suffered by the municipality, because in his view, the disaster was “unnatural” due to increased flows into the lake from the Portage Diversion and the fact that an outlet capable of compensating for that flow has never been dug.

“Everybody knows what needs to be done,” he said, referring to the chorus of calls from lake residents for a second drain outlet from Watchorn Bay to Lake St. Martin.

As for the eight new appraisers and 14 more staff hired to process flood claims, Zotter calls it “smoke and mirrors.”

“Take the flood of 1997, it was in excess of five years before they dealt with all the cases, and there was one-third less cases than last year,” he said.

“I have very little faith that it’s going to do anything positive for our people.”

Zotter also expressed irritation at what he claimed was an effort to keep him away from the assembled media at the provincial legislature when the new measures were announced at a press conference May 7.

“They were afraid that I was going to ruin their press release day, because I was going to tell them exactly how it wasn’t going to help us,” he said. “They wanted me out of there so badly.”

Pam Sul, CAO of Alonsa RM, said her council is still trying to figure out how the grant will work for them. Last year, the RM got $168,000 to compensate for lost tax revenue on flooded properties. Its entire west shore was damaged, with a number of evacuees.

This year, the total grant to alleviate the burden on unflooded property amounts to about $7,000 in the municipality of 1,270 people.

“We’re still not sure how it’s going to work, so we’re not sure whether to be happy about it or not,” said Sul.

She added that council is hopeful the new staff will speed up the claims process for individuals.

“One lady said that she’s had four different adjusters out in the last three days: one for fences, one for buildings, and one for land.”

Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton, who is the minister responsible for emergency measures, said in a press release that the 2011 flood marks the largest recovery effort Manitoba has taken on since 1950 and will cost $1 billion.

“It’s going to be a multi-year process,” he stated. “These new staff will help keep things moving forward and join the more than 100 people already working to process claims for flood-affected families.”

So far, more than 30,000 flood claims have been filed, triple the number of the 1997 flood, and the province has paid out more than $650 million in compensation to flood-affected Manitobans.

The one-time grant for a municipal tax credit to relieve some of the financial burden on municipalities in flood-damaged regions applies to the RMs of Alonsa, Ochre River, Siglunes, St. Laurent, Grahamdale, Coldwell and Lawrence.

The announcement last week included a new commitment to cover 90 per cent of the $1.7-million cost for the City of Brandon’s flood preparation work done in advance of the 2011 flood.

Ashton added that the province has already committed to helping people living around the lake flood-proof their farms, homes and cottages including covering the majority of the costs of raising, moving or diking their structures.

The post Latest provincial flood relief pledges “smoke and mirrors,” fumes St. Laurent reeve appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In his report, Gerrard makes 33 recommendations and offers seven “main” conclusions, while accusing the province of providing inadequate warning and support to those in the Lake Winnipeg area.

“This was the most widespread flood in the province’s history and the most costly in the history of the province,” said the River Heights MLA. The 2011 flood has cost $815 million to date.

But a provincial spokesperson said an independent review is already in the works.

“Manitoba has already committed to an independent review of the 2011 flood with a view to improving our flood response for the future,” said Jean-Marc Prvost, a spokesman for Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton.

“We planned for this review as soon as the massive scope of the flood became apparent, just as we have done after every major flood in the province’s history.”

Details of the independent review are expected to be announced in early 2012, he said.

The Liberal report calls for a “single-window approach” to how compensation claims are handled for farmers.

“One of the concerns people expressed to me, particularly in the farm community, is that they would go to agriculture, or they would go to the Emergency Measures office, and it was difficult to have everything dealt with at one place,” said Gerrard.

“What I have heard is sometimes you’ve got non-farm businesses, which are treated differently from farm businesses, and sometimes you’ve got farming where there are issues related to compensation, and we’ve got farmers who have got homes and cottages as well.”

Gerrard said a joint secretariat between Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, and the Emergency Measures Organization could be formed to handle the proposed single-window system, and work to ensure no applicant “falls through the cracks.”

Twin Lakes Beach resident Dennis Turek joined Gerrard for the report’s release at the Manitoba legislature. Turek said he feels the system has failed him, adding the human story behind the flood has been forgotten.

“It was a life-altering event and that is being missed,” he told reporters. “Talk about falling through the cracks — my building was demolished in October, it’s somewhere in a landfill now. I had to call and ask last week to make sure that my claim number and all my paperwork wasn’t lost because I haven’t heard a thing.”

He said when he did speak to someone about his claim, he was told appraisers were having difficulty finding another property to compare his to because it was so unique.

Gerrard said he compiled his report based on conversations with flood-affected Manitobans, such as Turek.

The post Grit leader says farmers need simplified flood compensation appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Contacthimwithyourquestionsandcommentsat daniel@bezte.ca.

———

Copyright 2011 Agriculture &Agri-Food Canada

1 Month (30 Days) Accumulated Precipitation (Prairie Region)

July 27, 2011 to August 25, 2011

Prepared by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s National Agroclimate Information Service (NAIS). Data provided through partnership with Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and many Provincial agencies.

0 mm

0 -5 mm 5 -10 mm 10 -15 mm 15 -20 mm 20 -25 mm 25 -30 mm 30 -40 mm 40 -50 mm 50 -60 mm 60 -70 mm 70 -80 mm 80 -90 mm 90 -100 mm 100 -125 mm 125 -150 mm 150 -200 mm

200 mm

Extent of Agricultural Land Lakes and Rivers

Produced using near real-time data that has undergone initial quality control. The map may not be accurate for all regions due to data availability and data errors.

Created: 08/26/11

www.agr.gc.ca/drought

This issue’s weather map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies over the

30-day period ending Aug. 25. From the map you can see southern regions were fairly dry during August, with

a large area seeing less than 25 millimetres of rain. Farther north, wet conditions prevailed, especially over

northwestern parts of agricultural Manitoba and northern parts of agricultural Saskatchewan, where some

areas saw in excess of 100 mm.

The post Weekly Weather Map – for Sep. 1, 2011 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

If you’re skeptical about surface- based observations being an accurate way of comparing temperature trends, let’s look at what the satellite-based temperature records of the lowest eight kilometres of the atmosphere showed. According to these records, which go back 34 years, July was either the third warmest or the sixth warmest, according to the two different organizations that calculate this number.

If we look at this issue’s map that shows the temperature anomalies across the globe during July, we can see that much of central and eastern North America saw well-above- average temperatures during the month, with slightly below-average temperatures over the far western parts of North America. The only place on the planet that was well below average for July was the area over central Russia.

So far during 2011 there have been six all-time-high national temperature records set, and in 2010 we saw 20 all-time national heat records broken. Also during this time period, Asia recorded six of the hottest temperatures ever, with temperatures peaking at 53.5 C at Moenjodaro, Pakistan on May 26, 2010. The all-time record for the planet is 54 C, measured at Tirat Zvi, Israel on June 21, 1942, but this record appears to be in error, as a misread of the thermograph indicated 54 C but it actually read only 53 C. This record of 53.5 C comes close to breaking what is now considered the most reliable alltime temperature record for the planet of 53.9 C, that has occurred three times at the appropriately named Furnace Creek in Death Valley, Calif. between 1998 and 2007.

It is interesting that while the planet has seen several all-time national-high temperature records broken over the last couple of years, there have been no national alltime- low temperature records broken.

Looking to our north during July we see that the amount of Arctic sea ice has hit an alltime record low. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre the average ice extent for July 2011 was 7.92 million square kilometres (3.06 million square miles). This was 210,000 square km (81,000 square miles) below the previous record low for the month, which was set in July 2007, and 2.18 million square km (842,000 square miles) below the average for 1979 to 2000. The amount of ice loss slowed during the last part of July and the beginning of August, but it has now increased again. Both the Northwest and Northeast passages are now relatively ice free. This is only the third time in history that they have been open and all three times have occur red in the last three years. Total ice volume in the Arctic also continued to decline, as the amount of thick multi-year ice slowly disappears. It is looking very likely that the total volume of Arctic sea ice will hit an alltime low later this summer.

Finally, if we look west over the Pacific Ocean we see that ocean temperatures are in what is considered a neutral temperature range, neither El Nińo or La Nińa. The computer models are divided as to what might happen as winter approaches, with about an equal number showing weak El Nińo conditions to develop, remaining neutral, or weak La Nińa conditions developing. Chances are, we will continue to see natural conditions persist, which means it will be tough to figure out what kind of winter might be in store for us this year – but more about that in a couple of months.

———

Theonlyplaceon theplanetthatwas wellbelowaverage forJulywasthearea overcentralRussia.

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A Manitoba Queen’s Bench court last week postponed the government’s motion to dismiss the action by local landowners after it appeared at least some of them are willing to continue the fight.

A June 7 hearing in Winnipeg was told the chairman of a local landowners’ association had engaged Martin Pollock, a Winnipeg lawyer, to contest the government’s attempt to have the case dismissed.

The judge granted Pollock’s request to adjourn proceedings until he could consult with his clients and see how many want to pursue the matter.

A similar hearing was held in Portage la Prairie the following day.

Court heard the group potentially involves 89 local landowners who allege long-standing damage to their properties resulting from provincial drainage projects in the region stretching over decades.

The case goes back to the 1970s when local landowners say drainage works by the province in the Whitemud watershed caused extensive flooding of farmland in the region. Plaintiffs allege the province was negligent in maintaining drainage systems in such a way as to worsen the flooding.

The Whitemud watershed lies north of the Assiniboine River between Riding Mountain and Lake Manitoba.

Two brothers, Leonard and Haldar Bjarnarson, separately sued the province in the 1980s and were awarded damages. But claims by other affected landowners were never settled.

Now the government wants the court to dismiss the action because it says too much time has passed.

Court documents filed by the province say efforts over the years to settle the matter out of court through compensation were unsuccessful. Some of the original plaintiffs, including the Bjarnarson brothers, have since died. Records have been lost or destroyed and it is now impossible to assess damage claims properly, the province claims.

Descendants of the original plaintiffs say an out-of-court settlement did not work because the province’s proposal would have alleviated flooding for upstream landowners but made it worse for those living downstream. ron@fbcpublishing.com

The post Whitemud Drainage Case Against Province To Continue appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“MBP commends the province for the leadership it is providing at the provincial level with the announcement of special aid and long-term support for those affected by the flood event of 2011,” president Major Jay Fox said in a release.

“On behalf of our beef producers, we extend our thanks for getting a meaningful recovery package in place in the swift time frame that was needed.”

The program compensates producers for short-and long-term flood losses in and around the Lake Manitoba region. It also compensates them for cattle killed by a late-season blizzard.

The aid package, announced May 24 by Premier Greg Selinger, contains four components:

Aid for Lake Manitoba livestock producers forced to move animals out of flooded areas because of high water levels on the lake.

Renovation and repair for Lake Manitoba pastures and farm infrastructure damaged by flood water.

A plan to compensate landowners in the Shoal Lakes area for flood-related losses, as well as an offer to buy up chronically flooded land in the district.

Compensation for an estimated 2,000 cattle which died on range in a snowstorm that swept across the province April 29 and 30.

Full details about the program were incomplete last week. Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers, whose department is overseeing the plan, said compensation levels in some cases still have to be worked out.

But Struthers stressed the need to get money out to affected producers as fast as possible.

“We will be fair with farmers. We will be generous and we’re going to get cheques out quickly,” he said.

Struthers said it’s possible the federal government may contribute to the program through Disaster Financial Assistance or other means.

“We’re committed to what we put on paper and inviting the federal government to come along with us.”

LAKE MANITOBA AID

In the Lake Manitoba region, the program promises to help with the cost of feed or renting alternative pastures for herds. It will also help cover transportation costs for feed or for animals that have to be moved more than a short distance. Payment rates depend on the species. The maximum payment is $100 for a cow-calf pair.

Longer term, the program promises assistance to help repair pastures and improved farmland damaged by flood waters. Flood mitigation measures to protect farm property are also included.

Payments for flood-related 2011 transportation costs vary with the commodity. For example, the payment rate for straw, hay and greenfeed is 26 cents per tonne for each loaded mile. Reimbursements for moving silage and concentrated feedstuffs are 19 and 14 cents/tonne/loaded mile respectively. Compensation for hauling livestock ranges from five to 12 cents per head per loaded mile, depending on the species. Producers must provide declarations and transaction receipts to get paid.

Other details on how much producers will receive and for what are still in preparation, Struthers said.

LIVESTOCK MORTALITIES

Many of the cattle that died from exposure and suffocation in the late-April blizzard were on the western side of the province. Losses were also reported in the Carberry, Killarney and northern Interlake regions.

Struthers said compensation will be at market value based on the number of head lost. Purebred livestock will be compensated at 1-1/2 times the value of commercial animals.

Producers must sign declarations for animal deaths. They must also provide records or documentation to confirm the number of livestock lost. Those can include: calving records, veterinary receipts, CRA-related documents, CCIA tag sheets or recent financial statements including livestock inventories.

SHOAL LAKE

The program for this chronically flooded region between Lakes Manitoba and Winnipeg provides compensation for producers who lost income from hay and pasture land in 2010 and 2011, plus transportation costs for moving feed and animals threatened by flood waters.

It also includes a provision for the province to buy up privately owned land lost to chronic flooding in recent years.

The cost of the initiative is estimated at $22 million over three years, although Struthers said the figure is flexible.

“It could be more than $22 million. It might be less. It all depends on how discussions go in terms of buyouts and what kind of uptake there is.”

The buyout option caught some Shoal Lake-area farmers by surprise.

“It actually looks like more than we were looking for,” said Howard Hilstrom, who heads a group of local landowners demanding long-term flood relief.

“We had expected that we were going to get per-acre payments. We did not expect to see the buyout option come in there.”

What landowners really want is a large-scale drainage project in the region to recover land lost to incoming water which cannot drain away, Hilstom said.

Doug Chorney, Keystone Agricultural Producers president, said he was pleased by the Shoal Lake compensation package but unsure about the buyout option.

“Producers I’ve talked to say they don’t want a buyout. They want compensation and the water to go down. They want their land back,” Chorney said. ron@fbcpublishing.com

———

“Wewillbegenerousandwe’regoingtogetchequesoutquickly.”

– STAN STRUTHERS

The post Sweeping Flood Aid Announced For Livestock Producers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Choosing this site for a deliberate breach makes sense despite the protests of local farmers that it will affect highly productive farmland instead of pastures farther downstream, says Steve Topping, Manitoba Water Stewardship’s executive director of regulatory and operational services. The river has spilled its banks there before. The last time was 1955 because of an ice jam, he said.

The weir was built on PR 331 so there’s good road access, a stable foundation and the road will minimize the erosion.

The release site is in an oxbow, sheltered from the main part of the river and its current, making it easier to manage the water.

“I also want to point out the controlled release needs to be as close as it can be to Portage la Prairie because we cannot carry water farther down the Assiniboine River to a release point,” he said. “The dike can’t handle that capacity.”

Water from the controlled spill started as a trickle early May 14 building up to 500 cfs. It was to peak at 3,000, Topping said. Because the water was being released slowly it was expected to take seven to eight days to reach the eastern side of the projected spill zone.

Officials refer to it as the “waffle effect” – mile roads slow the water like waffle cells hold syrup.

Homes in the communities of Starbuck, Sanford and La Salle are not expected to be affected by the spill, Chuck Sanderson, executive director of Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization, said May 12 during a briefing, although he suggested flood protection for homes in those towns along the La Salle River should beef up their flood protection.

Elie could see water at its south end as water backs up the Elm Creek Channel.

Once alerted, homeowners in the flood zone rushed to erect sandbag dikes, but didn’t know how high to build them and initially some had difficulty getting sandbags.

Crews were busy last week surveying the area. Ashton said dike elevations will be delivered in person to residents in the days ahead along with any other information the province has.

People were also upset the controlled release was postponed several times. But Ashton defended it saying the extensions allowed more time for flood protection.

Both Ashton and Topping said they are confident the release of water can be controlled. Rip rap rock protects the weir from erosion. The site is monitored 24 hours a day and heavy equipment is there to adjust the flow, or even stop it, if necessary.

Topping said he doesn’t know how long farmland in the spill zone will be under water.

“There will be some areas that will have trapped water (after the water recedes),” he said. “We need to address those immediately with equipment or with pumping so agricultural producers can get on the land as soon as possible.” allan@fbcpublishing.com

The post Why Hoop And Holler Site Was Chosen appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.