State of emergency declared in 2 communities north of Winnipeg

Officials declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night in two communities north of Winnipeg, as falling temperatures caused massive ice jams that threatened to send the Red River spilling over its banks.

The municipalities of East and West St. Paul are both affected.

West St. Paul issued its directive at 6:45 p.m. CT, saying that an ice jam at the Lockport bridge, also north of Winnipeg, had the potential to cause flash flooding in the community.

"Due to [the] unpredictable nature of flash flooding, we would recommend that all residents of West St. Paul take appropriate actions to protect their property," the municipality said in a release.

East St. Paul issued its warning around 5 p.m. CT, saying the Lockport ice jams were causing water to rise above expected levels. The neighbourhoods of Highland Park and Whitby Harbour and homes along Henderson Highway are affected. As many as 100 homes are involved.

Officials expect to know in the next seven hours what will happen to properties in these areas. Residents will be advised if they have to evacuate, Cindy Brown of the East St. Paul emergency operations committee said.

Brown said in a statement that public works crews are sandbagging vulnerable points.

Ice jams on the Red River are causing water to back up over the banks, while frozen culverts are preventing the water from draining through the ditches.

Earlier, about 10 homes were flooded in St. Andrews, a community about 20 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Officials said a further 30 or 40 had to be evacuated as a precautionary measure, and firefighters are knocking on doors, warning other residents to be ready to go.

Many more homes in the area are threatened, said Paul Guyader, emergency measures co-ordinator for St. Andrews.

"We're getting very worried here.… We've used all our resources, all our firefighters, all our resource people [and] volunteers," Guyader told CBC News.

The provincial Emergency Measures Organization is calling for volunteers to help fill sandbags and build up dikes for the homes on River Road, south of Lockport.

For much of this week, residents have been desperately trying to keep their homes above water but encountering a flood of frustration when seeking help from the government.

'We don't like to work on highways, but at the end of the day, we have to look after the St. Andrews citizens.' —St. Andrews Reeve Don Forfar

Resident Marty McGregor has been busy pumping water off his property this week and watching it seep into his basement from the plugged ditch in his front yard. He called the rural municipality office but was told his problem was the jurisdiction of the provincial Department of Highways.

When he contacted the Highways Department, however, he was sent right back to the rural municipality.

St. Andrews Reeve Don Forfar maintains the issue is not within the RM's jurisdiction, because the culverts run along Highway 9. However, the RM has been given the green light to do the work, because highway officials are too busy elsewhere, he said.

"We don't like to work on highways, but at the end of the day, we have to look after the St. Andrews citizens," he said.

With 400 complaints and many homes in worse shape than McGregor's, however, getting to everyone could take a while, said Forfar.

Fewer Winnipeg homes at risk

Meanwhile, some Winnipeggers received some good news regarding the flooding outlook. The City of Winnipeg has announced the number of properties within city limits that are at risk of river flooding has been reduced to 70 from almost 300.

Of those, 34 properties most at risk have been staked and surveyed and sandbag deliveries have begun. The city estimates it will need about 24,000 sandbags for all of the properties. Originally, it was expecting it would need 760,000 of the bags.

With more precipitation falling on the city through Tuesday and Wednesday — and expected to continue through Thursday — the city said it will monitor the situation closely and be ready to add more homes and sandbags to the list.

The majority of the city is protected by the Red River Floodway, a 48-kilometre-long channel from St. Norbert to Lockport that redirects water from the river around the east side of Winnipeg.