Manitobans wade through flooded streets, basements after massive downpour
People in parts of southeastern Manitoba are dealing with overland flooding after heavy rain swamped the region Monday into Tuesday.
Stephen Berg, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said a slew of thunderstorms started rolling into southeastern Monday morning, bringing heavy rainfall and a tornado warning for the region on Monday afternoon.
Elma, a community in the Whiteshell area in eastern Manitoba, got the highest amount of rain in the province, with 205 millimetres recorded over a 36-hour period, Berg said Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada said the city of Steinbach had 156 millimetres of rain between Monday and Tuesday, leading to overland flooding and some road closures.
Heavy rains also hit some communities further west, with Winkler getting 133 millimetres, according to Environment Canada.
"This is quite an event," said Berg. "You'd expect an event like this one once every 120 years, 130 years or more."
Rainfall totals courtesy of Environment Canada and Climate Change.
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Animal shelter floods week after opening
An animal shelter that recently opened its doors in Steinbach was among the buildings that had basement flooding on Tuesday.
"The ribbon cutting was last week … something we've worked towards for years," Sandra Watson, a volunteer adoption co-ordinator at the shelter, told CBC News on Tuesday.
"It is a big blow."
Some roads in Steinbach were still flooded on Tuesday. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
Water started pooling in a ditch in front of the shelter on Tuesday morning, but with no immediate indication of flooding risk, Watson said the shelter kept running as normal.
But by noon, the water started flooding the shelter's backyard, and soon after, the building had become an island surrounded by rainwater, she said.
Sandra Watson, a volunteer adoption co-ordinator at the Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue, said the shelter's basement was flooded just a week after the building opened to the public. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
As the water started pouring through windows into the shelter's basement, volunteers worked to move animal food and supplies into a storage room.
"But it [the water] was coming in fast, and we eventually had to just stop once it became waist-high," she said. "It was unsafe for our volunteers."
Watson said no animals were injured during the flooding, and the shelter is in the process of relocating them to foster families or other animal hospitals while the water is pumped out.
Nikita Pandya, a Steinbach resident, said she spent three or four hours draining her house's basement after it flooded on Tuesday.
The water, gushing from drains and through the house's garage, quickly flooded the basement, eventually reaching knee-high.
"Everything is mashed up downstairs," she said. "We just set up last week, and it's all messed up."
Pandya said her basement wasn't the only one dealing with the issue on her street, with at least two neighbours also experiencing flooding.
The flooding also left some cars stranded on the streets of Steinbach.
Lois Janz was driving through the city on Tuesday when she saw vehicles stuck at Main Street and Highway 12, one of the city's main intersections, with water rising up to their doors.
"People had to climb out of the cars, chest deep in the water, pushing their cars out," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen that much water in Steinbach ever in my life."
Janz, who was waiting to pass through the intersection, said she was glad to be in a truck.
"Otherwise, I don't know if I would have made it through [the intersection."
Meanwhile, people coming out of stores were taking off their shoes and rolling up their pants to wade back to their cars, she said.
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Flooded streets, basements in Hanover
In the rural municipality of Hanover, some roads were closed Tuesday due to washouts, an update on the RM's website said.
Reeve Jim Funk said the RM got multiple reports of basement flooding on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall.
One resident reported walking through nearly waist-high water on a road in the community of Kleefeld, he told CBC Tuesday afternoon.
"You cannot prepare for this amount of rain in such a short time," Funk said. "It's never thought through well enough."
The RM was pumping water from ditches and storm sewers Tuesday to mitigate the impact of flooding, but Funk said it would be "well into the evening and maybe even in the night" before the situation can be declared under control.
The rural municipality is also offering sandbags for residents facing the threat of flooding throughout the afternoon, adding reports of flooded farmland and drainage ditches running full are not considered emergencies at this time.
Environment Canada's Berg said more rain is expected for southeastern Manitoba this week, with the risk of more thunderstorms Wednesday.
WATCH BELOW: Backyard flood tips
This article was originally published for CBC News on Sept. 17. Contains files from Mike Arsenault, Edzi'u Loverin and Santiago Arias Orozco
