Alberta floodwaters head to Manitoba
Alberta's flood water is draining towards Manitoba.
John Pomeroy, director of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan, said every major river draining east out of the Rockies is in high flow or flood at once — and most of that water will end up in Lake Winnipeg.
The South Saskatchewan River is collecting flood waters from tributaries in southern Alberta and moving east through Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The waters will move into Manitoba through the Saskatchewan River and the Cumberland Marsh, passing through The Pas and eventually flowing into Lake Winnipeg.
"It's probably the last thing Manitoba needs — more water in Lake Winnipeg — after the last few wet years," said Pomeroy.
Residents around Gimli were inundated by water in 2010 after storms pushed the already-high lake levels inland.
Climate change has caused huge rainfall events on the Prairies like never before and we need to find new ways to manage all that water because our cities and towns can't handle it, Pomeroy said.
"We're going to have to become more prepared for this and manage our water differently because the way we're managing it now, it's just not working," he said.