Flooding forces evacuation on First Nation

Residents of a Manitoba First Nation are being moved out of the community due to spring flooding.

About 30 people from the Dauphin Lake First Nation have been forced out because water has started to wash over the main access road to the reserve, located at the junction of Dauphin River and Lake Winnipeg.

"We've got a lot of vulnerable people that are in medical care that constantly go back and forth to clinics and hospitals and they can no longer do that with the road out," said Daren Mini, executive director of the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters (MANFF), which is heading up the evacuation.

Those being moved out are being sent to Winnipeg or to stay with family and friends in other regions of the province.

'Water moves at such a fast rate, by the time we suspect there's a flooding issue it's too late.' —Daren Mini, MANFF

About 285 people live in Dauphin River, 250 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The association has also set up a base camp for flooding response and is stocking up on sandbags and bringing in extra resources to deal with concerns around the Interlake region, near Lake St. Martin.

The communities include Penaymootang (Fairford) First Nation, Little Saskatchewan, Lake St. Martin First Nation as well as Dauphin River First Nation.

The region is showing problems as the melting snow crosses overland to get to Lake Winnipeg, Mini said, adding the association hopes to fill 240,000 sandbags.

"Preparing ahead of time is the most important thing any community can do," he said.

"Water moves at such a fast rate, by the time we suspect there's a flooding issue it's too late."

Firefighters are also surveying potential trouble spots and low lying areas in communities along the Red River, Souris River, Pembina River, Assiniboine River, Winnipeg River, Fisher River and other Interlake regions.

The Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters provides emergency preparedness, mitigation, and response and recovery services to Manitoba's 63 First Nations.

In 2009, MANFF worked with provincial agencies to evacuate about 2,500 people after flooding submerged approximately 1,800 kilometres of land in Manitoba.