The rural municipality of St. Clements held an emergency meeting on rain and wind that hit the area northeast of Winnipeg on Tuesday.
Morden City Council, meanwhile, has asked residents not to operate their faucets, dishwashers and washing machines in an effort to ease the load on their sewer systems, after the community had rained more than any other area in Manitoba on last 24 hours.
Environment Canada has issued warnings of rain, wind and snowfall in parts of southern and northern Manitoba, as a heavy downpour in Colorado is causing heavy rains and strong winds in the southern part of the province.
Areas covered by the warnings are already struggling with flooding caused by heavy rainfall this spring, such as Interlake and the Red River Valley.
Many areas have already experienced 30 to 50 millimeters of rain this week, but an additional 20 to 30 millimeters of rain are still expected.
St. Clements has sent alerts to up to 40 properties to get them ready to leave if Lake Winnipeg rises too high. The Red River, which is still flooding, runs along the west side of the rural town.
“If anything happens, and with this wind and rain, I’m not sure where [the water’s] will go, “said Mayor Debbie Fiebelkorn.
“The water hasn’t even come down from the spring runoff here.”
Conditions are similar to those of 2010, when a record low pressure system known as a “weather bomb” hit the area and caused strong winds, Fiebelkorn said.
An excavator has been moved to the northern part of the municipality, along the southeast shore of Lake Winnipeg, and a local quarry has been contacted to transport materials such as sand and gravel to help strengthen the dikes. cal.
Tyler Freeman, the town’s emergency coordinator, said they had moved heavy equipment to the Grand Marais area while guarding the dikes.
On the other side of Lake Winnipeg, washes have closed Highway 222 at two separate points north of Gimli: one near Camp Morton and another about five miles north of Gimli.
Morden gets soaked
Meanwhile, in the 24-hour period until around 7 a.m. Tuesday, Morden received more rain than any other region in the province, with 81.5 millimeters.
Morden Mayor Brandon Burley said the ground was already saturated, but on Monday the rain began to fall on sheets.
“At one point, we thought it was hail, but really only the raindrops are that big and almost rainballs,” he said.
Southeast Manitoba is expected to receive less rainfall, between five and 10 millimeters.
Wind warnings have also been issued for parts of southwestern Manitoba, especially in the areas between the Saskatchewan border and the western shore of Lake Manitoba, and as far north as the southern shore of Lake Winnipegosis.
Areas around Minnedosa, about 200 miles west of Winnipeg between Brandon and Riding Mountain, saw winds of more than 100 miles per hour, Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Luzny said.
In other areas, northerly winds could reach 60 miles per hour, with gusts of 90 miles per hour, which could damage buildings, including shingles or windows, and cause blackouts.
Manitoba Hydro says strong winds have caused power outages scattered across the southwest.
Drivers should be on the lookout for objects blowing on the roads.
Wind and rain are expected to decrease by the end of Tuesday as the weather system moves east.
To the north, a rain warning has been issued for Churchill, on the shores of Hudson’s Bay. Multiple waves of precipitation are expected for much of this week, with the heaviest rain from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Environment Canada estimates between 30 and 40 millimeters.
A snowfall warning has been issued on Lake Tadoule, almost 1,000 miles north of Winnipeg. They are expected to be between 20 and 40 centimeters, from Tuesday evening until Friday. Winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour are also expected on Tuesday evening.