Southwest Manitoba communities under states of emergency as 'weather bomb' threatens homes

Hundreds of properties have been damaged and dozens of roads are washed out after at least two storms hit southwest Manitoba on Sunday.

The municipality of Minto-Odanah and Minnedosa both declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday due to heavy rains and high waters.

The Little Saskatchewan River Valley remains flooded from the storm, which has forced dozens of people to evacuate.

Kelvin Jones, who lives in the area, lost his home and camper trailer to the storm.

"We voluntarily got out because there's nothing we could do," he said.

Jones believes he's lucky his home did not get swept up by the fast-moving waters.

Minnedosa Mayor Pat Skatch said the storms caused major damage, washing out roads, flooding basements and destroying a footbridge in the town, which is located about 200 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Some businesses have had to shut down until further notice, Skatch said, though she didn't have an estimate of how many.

"We're just not in a pretty place right at the moment," she said.

Environment Canada warned of the potential for more severe weather on Tuesday night.

Thunderstorms with heavy rain, strong wind and hail were approaching southwestern Manitoba late in the evening, before moving toward the Red River Valley overnight.

Doug Dowsett, reeve of Minto-Odanah, which surrounds the town of Minnedosa., says overland flooding washed out dozens of roads in the area.

The water came in fast, damaging roads all over the municipality, he said.

"It started with a huge rainfall," he said. "It just blew our roads out."

The roads were so damaged that the community was having trouble getting firefighters and ambulances into the area, he said.

Dowsett said he has "never ever" seen anything like this.

"We may not be able to get this all fixed before winter … so we're trying [to] assess what roads we should start on," Dowsett said, with school bus routes a factor in the decision-making.

Dowsett commended residents for their composure and willingness to help each other. If another storm hits, he asked that the less than 1,200 people living in the area have patience during the recovery effort.

Now he hopes the government will provide disaster assistance to help with repairs.

The rural municipality would have to ask for help in order to receive it, the province said Tuesday afternoon.

Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler travelled around the area to review the damage and speak with officials. He said the province brought in emergency measures and infrastructure staff, including five trailers of equipment and water tubes.

"It's not their first rodeo, but we're here to help them in any way we can," he said in Minnedosa.

He's worried about another "weather bomb" brewing in the waterlogged region Tuesday evening.

The rural municipality of Oakview, northwest of Brandon, already declared a state of emergency early Monday morning. The city of Brandon was also hit with heavy rain and is preparing for the potential for more flooding.

Manitoba government officials said they may have to operate the Portage Diversion floodway later this week to limit water flow in the lower stretch of the Assiniboine River, between Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg.

As of Monday afternoon, the Assiniboine River watershed, which includes the areas near Brandon and Minnedosa, had recorded close to 155 millimetres of precipitation in 24 hours, the province said in a news release.