20 to 40 millimeters of rain is expected to fall in many parts of Manitoba already dealing with massive amounts of overland flooding.
According to the province’s flood forecast, the rain is anticipated throughout the next five days.
Some areas in southeastern Manitoba could see upwards of 100 millimeters of rain, due to potential thunderstorms. As well, some localized areas could see up to 70 millimetres.
“This is a dynamic weather system and there is still uncertainty about the amounts and location of precipitation,” according to the flood bulletin.
The rain is expected to affect the Whiteshell lakes area and the Winnipeg River basin upstream in Ontario, an area where many cottage and homeowners have been hit hard with flooding this season.
“You just feel like you have no control over anything,” says Sheila Dancho a cottage owner at Nutimik Lake. Her and her family were busy sandbagging before being told to evacuate last week.
With more rain on the way, she says she feels powerless.
“It’s like a hopeless, helpless feeling to know that there is nothing personally you can do and with more rain coming it’s devastating.”
It’s a similar feeling for Art Abrahams who was forced to evacuate his home in Otter Falls.
“It’s overwhelming, it’s stressful, it ways on the back of your mind all the time, no matter what you’re doing,” Abrahams tells Global News.
READ MORE: More rain forecast for Winnipeg
He watches the forecast and hopes he’s just built his dikes high enough. But not everyone was willing to leave. Sandi McCann and her husband decided to stay back in Otter Falls to protect her and her neighbours properties.
“We wanted to be helpful for ourselves and for our neighbours,” says McCann.
She’s stocked up on groceries and spends her days checking pumps around the empty neighbourhood.
“We wanted to stay here and man our pumps and also of the several people here that sandbagged and made dikes, they’ve all left so we’re pumping out their dikes for them while they’re not here.”
Over the next 10-14 days, Manitoba’s hydrological forecast centre expects major increases to were levels for Winnipeg River property owners.
- 6 inches upstream of Eight Foot Falls
- 10 inches in Nutimik Lake
- 9 inches in Dorothy Lake
- 11 inches in Margaret/Eleanor Lake
- 1 foot in Sylvia Lake
- 8 inches upstream of Silver Falls
- 10 inches in Powerview-Pine Falls
The Winnipeg River is expected to crest between June 5-10, according to the report.
As of Friday, there are 38 states of local emergency that been declared in Manitoba.
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