Heavy winds drive up water levels on south shores of Lake Winnipeg, Dauphin Lake

The rainstorm pounding southern Manitoba has compounded high water on Lake Winnipeg, which has already been engorged by heavy inflows from flooded rivers. 

Lake Winnipeg was already above Manitoba Hydro's recommended operating range before heavy winds from the north whipped up early Tuesday, pushing water levels in the lake's southern basin up another half a metre.

Earlier Tuesday, Environment Canada issued rainfall, wind and snowfall warnings across a broad swath of southern Manitoba, as a powerful Colorado low brought heavy rain and strong winds. Warnings were lifted in the south, but remained in place for northern Manitoba by late Tuesday afternoon.

The Rural Municipality of St. Clements, northeast of Winnipeg, held an emergency meeting about the storm, which is hammering the southeastern shore of Lake Winnipeg.

Out of an abundance of caution, St. Clements sent out notices to the owners of about 40 properties, warning them to be prepared to leave if Lake Winnipeg rises further. 

"If anything happens, and with this wind and rain, I'm just not sure where [the water's] going to go," Mayor Debbie Fiebelkorn said.

"The water hasn't even receded from the spring runoff in here."

A stretch of Lake Winnipeg, from Netley-Libau Marsh to Victoria Beach, was badly damaged in October 2010, when a record-breaking low-pressure system known as a weather bomb hit the area, bringing strong winds that drove up water levels and created heavy waves that pounded the shore.

At Island Beach, north of Beaconia, property owner Dave Craigie said in light of storms he's seen before, he's not worried about what he's seeing right now.

"I've lost half of my property into the water," said Craigie, referring to the cumulative effects of storm erosion over the years. 

"Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. It's just the way it works around here. It's part of lake  living. That's what I call it."

Lake Winnipeg's water level always fluctuates with the wind, added his friend Gerald Sitar, who arrived at Island Beach to check on several properties.

"This is a storm that comes around once in a while. Depending on which way the wind blows, we're going to get hit or else the other side of the lake will get hit," he said, referring to the northern basin. "It's our turn this time."

Nonetheless, St. Clements has moved an excavator to Lake Winnipeg shoreline and asked a local quarry to be prepared to haul sand and gravel to reinforce dikes, if needed.

Tyler Freeman, the municipality's emergency measures co-ordinator, said St. Clements moved heavy equipment to the Grand Marais area as they keep an eye on dikes there.

On the west side of Lake Winnipeg's south basin, two washouts have closed Highway 222, which runs along the lake between Gimli and Riverton.

Lake Winnipeg stood at a wind-affected level of 717.1 feet above sea level at Gimli on Tuesday. Manitoba Hydro is required to release as much water as possible from the lake when levels exceed 715 feet above sea level.

Lake levels are expected to continue to rise because the Red River and Winnipeg River continue to pump floodwaters in from the south and southeast, respectively.

Evacuations at Dauphin Lake

The high north winds have also driven up water levels on the south side of Dauphin Lake, which is east of Dauphin and northeast of Riding Mountain.

The Rural Municipality of Lakeshore issued a mandatory evacuation order for Ochre Beach and Crescent Cove, which sit at the south side of the lake.

Crescent Cove resident Dave Watson said high water swamped the area overnight but is now receding.

"Those waves were incredible," he said.

"That sounded like people running across the roof last night as the shingles are blown off," added Grant Moffat, who lives between Crescent Cove and Ochre Beach.

The southern shore of Dauphin Lake was severely damaged by a windstorm in 2011.

Dauphin Lake was sitting at 859 feet above sea level, or a foot above flood stage, before the windstorm started.

Morden gets soaking

Some of the areas covered by Environment Canada's storm warnings earlier Tuesday were already struggling with flooding caused by the massive amount of rain that has fallen this spring, including the Interlake and the Red River Valley.

Many areas already had 30 to 50 millimetres of rainfall this week, with another 20 to 30 millimetres expected Tuesday.

In southern Manitoba, the City of Morden asked residents not to run their taps, dishwashers and laundry machines in an effort to ease the load on their sewer systems, after the community received more rain than any other area of Manitoba in the last 24 hours.

During the 24-hour period up to about 7 a.m. Tuesday, Morden received more rain than any other region in the province, with 81.5 millimetres.

Morden Mayor Brandon Burley said the ground was already saturated, but on Monday the rain started coming down in sheets.

"We thought it was hail at one point, but it was actually just raindrops are so big, and almost balls of rain," he said.

Southeastern Manitoba was expected to receive less rain Tuesday, between five and 10 millimetres.

Wind warnings were also issued for parts of southwestern Manitoba, particularly in the areas between the Saskatchewan border and the western shore of Lake Manitoba, and as far north as the southern shore of Lake Winnipegosis.

Areas around Minnedosa, about 200 kilometres west of Winnipeg between Brandon and Riding Mountain, reported winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour, Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Luzny said.

In other areas, northerly winds were expected to reach 60 kilometres per hour, gusting to 90 kilometres per hour.

Manitoba Hydro said the high winds have causes scattered power outages across the southwest.

North also affected

In northern Manitoba, a rainfall warning has been issued for Churchill, on the shore of Hudson Bay. Multiple waves of precipitation are expected over much of this week, with the heaviest rain on Tuesday into Wednesday.

Environment Canada forecasts 30 to 40 millimetres.

Winter storm warnings were issued for Brochet and Tadoule Lake, with strong northerly winds and rain turning to snow Tuesday evening, before heavier snow moves in on Wednesday. Total snowfall in the 20 to 30 centimetre range is expected, Environment Canada says.

Storm pounds southeastern shore of Lake Winnipeg

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

The impact of heavy rain and high winds have been whipping through our province. The southeastern shores of Lake Winnipeg are being pounded. It's raising water levels along the shoreline and putting local homeowners on edge.