Some Manitoba Interlake roads flooded, one community on 'high alert' to evacuate

Residents of the Manitoba Interlake town of Fisher Branch are on high alert to evacuate after the dike breached on Sunday evening, following a weekend of heavy rain.

The town's public information officer Doug Anderson with the North East Interlake Emergency Measures Board said the situation stabilized overnight.

"The Tiger Dams have held and really improved the situation, and the [Fisher] river is stable at the moment. The major problem is overland flooding now, and going downriver from Fisher Branch, the river is still causing problems for people," he said.

The main issue is roads are flooded or washed out, making it dangerous for people to travel, he said.

On Sunday night, the Town of Fisher Branch appealed to people on Facebook to pack an overnight bag, including any medications they might need, and be prepared to leave their homes.

Anderson says no evacuations have occurred yet, but residents continue to be on high alert in case they need to leave quickly in response to flooding concerns.

To the east, crews from Arborg to Bifrost are sandbagging homes and protecting roads from the Icelandic and Fisher Rivers after heavy rains and a fast snow melt caused the rivers to overflow.

Anderson says the rural municipalities of Bifrost-Riverton and Fisher are dealing with road washouts which is making it difficult to get around.

"The Fisher River has declined in town, but there's still a lot of water around the area, and they protected their important organizations and buildings. It's just messy out there," he said.

"The water is moving through. But when you drive through the area, there's whole quarters and whole sections that are underwater."

Both rural municipalities are currently under states of local emergency because of flooding. There are a total of 18 communities, not including First Nations, which have declared states of emergency, the province says.