Red Cross called in to help 4 flooded-out Manitoba First Nations

The Canadian Red Cross has been called in to help another group of residents from a flooded-out Manitoba First Nation.

The Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation in southwestern Manitoba is the latest community in the province to be affected by floodwaters coming from the Pipestone Creek, which is spilling over.

Fifteen people are impacted, said Cory Mini, the band manager handling evacuations for the community.

"Groundwater has risen to the point where it's contaminating wells, seeping into basements, and our plumber says he can't keep up," Mini said, adding two community members have already agreed to leave.

The evacuees will be taken to a hotel in Brandon where rooms and food will be provided, said Jason Small, a Red Cross spokesperson.

Mini said four homes are affected by the flood, but more could be impacted if the situation gets worse. 

• 'It gets tiring': Manitoba First Nation wants long-term solution to flooding
• Floodwaters force 84 people out of Peguis First Nation

The Pipestone Creek runs through Canupawakpa and Mini said flooding is something the community has dealt with over the last five years.

"It just happens and they know it," he said. "But this year, with the water saturation, it's just an extraordinary type of year."

Canupawakpa is the fourth First Nation in Manitoba the Red Cross has been called in to help this week.

Overland flooding on the Peguis First Nation — which is in the Interlake region and is Manitoba's largest reserve — forced 161 people to leave their homes.

Another 62 evacuees from Long Plain First Nation have been temporarily relocated to a hotel in nearby Portage la Prairie, while five evacuees from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in southwestern Manitoba are currently in a Brandon hotel.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada is paying the Red Cross to provide the support to the First Nations.

The Red Cross said it has also sent 100 clean-up kits, which have mops, brooms, gloves and garbage bags, to the town of Carman, 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

That town is facing its worst flood since 1979, with ice jams causing the Boyne River to surge and recede.

• Carman faces frustrating waves of floodwater due to ice jams