Frustration mounts along Lake Manitoba
The frustration of residents living around Lake Manitoba is rising as fast as the water levels they are scrambling to hold back.
Not only are people in Delta Beach upset about the water battering their shorelines and threatening their homes, they are equally irate by the lack of help from the province.
Don Clarkson, a board member with the Delta Beach Associations, said people have no idea what to do, or what to expect from the rising Lake Manitoba, which is at historically high levels.
The lake, being fed by floodwaters from the Assiniboine River that are channeled through the Portage Diversion, isn't expected to reach its highest level until mid-June.
"We really feel like we're fighting this fight, you know, on our own. We've not seen any military. We've seen no provincial [officials], we've had one meeting through this whole process with emergency measures," said Clarkson, noting that meeting was weeks ago.
Strong winds on the weekend whipped up waves in Twin Lakes Beach and Delta Beach, slamming them into the flood barriers on the shores.
Some water has breached the lake bank in places and washed over roads and close to homes.
"Many of these people have their entire, you know, life savings invested in those properties and you know, I think people are really at a loss as to what to do," Clarkson said.
He is demanding a meeting with the province to discuss the future of lake levels and how people should protect their properties.
A voluntary evacuation order was issued for the Delta Beach area on Monday due to the threat posed by the waves.
Kam Blight, reeve of the rural municipality of Portage la Prairie, said water has covered Hackberry East Road at the East Beach.
Nancy Matthews' cottage has been in her family for 100 years and she worried what could happen if the waves broke through the dikes.
"We worked hard for this and … we were going to give it to our kids and now there might not be anything to give them," she said on Sunday.
"We've seen some pretty wicked storms out here but we haven't had the heights of the water. You know, I had to have a cry when I got out here."
