Manitoba rolls out disaster relief programs for spring, summer rainstorms

The Manitoba government will roll out funding programs to help people and communities affected by three weather events that caused flooding this spring and summer. 

The disaster financial assistance programs will help recovery from spring flooding along the Red River, heavy rain in southeast Manitoba in early June, and a series of rainstorms that drenched parts of western Manitoba in late June and early July, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said Friday.

Damage from the three events is pegged at more than $35 million so far, and some communities still haven't finished tallying up their losses. 

"We were in one town and as we toured through, people were standing on the street, absolutely confusion on their face, not understanding what had happened to them," Schuler said Friday of the flooding a couple of months ago in western Manitoba.

"Everything in that town had been flooded."

Minnedosa, Rapid City, Rivers and other communities along the Little Saskatchewan and Assiniboine Rivers were hit particularly hard. Flooding washed out roads and bridges and some homes were evacuated. 

Pat Skatch, the mayor of Minnedosa — a town about 45 kilometres north of Brandon — said her community is still dealing with the aftermath of the flooding. 

Several streets and sidewalks are still closed, as are the town's library and a number of local businesses, Skatch said. She expects repairs to last into the new year.

"It's not something that can be replaced and fixed overnight," she said.

Minnedosa's town hall also had flooding in its basement. Repairs are ongoing there as well.

"I'm optimistic that it's going to be all put back to where it's supposed be by the spring part of 2021," Skatch said.

Skatch said she was hoping the province would come through with a relief program, but knows it won't cover 100 per cent of the costs. She said a full tally on the damage in Minnedosa still isn't complete. 

The rain also left a path of destruction in Brandon, washing out streets, flooding basements and overwhelming the city's infrastructure.

Brian Kayes, the City of Brandon's director of emergency preparedness, said the storms caused $300,000 and $400,000 in damage to city property and infrastructure alone, with the Sportsplex arena and swimming pool, airport, the parks department complex, and water treatment plant all sustaining water damage.

"The damage that we sustained in that heavy rain event were not things that were budgeted for," Kayes said. 

He said the program will take the sting off some of the costs the city had to take on to repair the damage. 

"We were certainly looking forward to the help from the province in managing these costs," he said.

Ten municipalities declared a local state of emergency and 20 municipalities were impacted by heavy rain, the province said. 

The southeast area of the province also was hit with almost 200 millimetres of rain between June 6 and 10, with flooding impacting homes and communities in the rural municipalities of De Salaberry, Piney, Reynolds, La Broquerie and Stuartburn, as well as the municipality of Emerson-Franklin.

The scope and cost of damage in some communities is still being tallied, Schuler said. 

"It is substantial. We haven't even heard from all of the communities yet," Schuler said. "We will wait on them to reply and give them their invoices." 

The province said the deadline to apply for assistance is Dec. 10.