Rural municipalities bordering Neepawa are making disaster declarations in the wake of torrential downpours late last week.

On Monday, RM of Lansdowne CAO Tracey Winthrop-Meyers confirmed that council would be making the declaration after unprecedented rainfall in the past six weeks washed out entire roads and caused widespread flooding.

Although the entire area has been inundated with rain for for more than a month, Ed Levandoski, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Rosedale said his area was hit with six inches of rain in less than 12 hours.

Levandoski said that work crews couldn't even get out to assess the situation on Friday due to extreme flooding of culverts and roads causing the gravel to be washed out.
"Thousands of acres are flooded and and damaged, permanently damaged. The ground is so overly saturated there is nowhere for the water to go," Levandoski said.
The RM workers were busy putting up barricades throughout the countryside as many roads and school bus routes were not safe to drive on.

"We are trying to identify where all the spots in need of repair are. Small creeks have turned into rivers, fields have turned into lakes. We can't start fixing it right now because it's still raining. This weather system needs to clear up so we can get out there," Levandoski said.

Local contractors, F. Kozak and Sons, and Pat Baker were called upon over the weekend to help with the damage.

"We don't have enough equipment or man power to combat this situation on our own, all work crews are hard at it with gravel trucks and heavy equipment," Levandoski said.

Levandoski said that as of Monday, he estimates $500,000 worth of damages to culverts alone.

"There is lots that needs to be replaced. Right now we have crews trying to make the school bus routes safe. We need to re-gravel, grate and do re-shaping of roads. This is very time consuming and very expensive. At this moment it is raining, and it's hampering our efforts. Everything has been destroyed. It will be weeks before it's all done. But we are very fortunate that no one was injured as far as I'm aware of," Levandoski said.

Lloyd Graham, a longtime Eden resident since 1960 said he has never seen flooding like this in the town of Eden since living there.

"I wasn't even home when the flooding happened. I was up at the cabin and received a phone return home. I didn't know what to expect but it certainly wasn't the extreme flooding I saw, it was a surprise," Graham said.

With adjustors expected to survey the damage early this week, Graham noted the flood damage done to his basement, garage and a leaky roof.


"I guess the creek overflowed to much. I don't know what to do about my yard, its so wet. I just hope it doesn't do this again," Graham said.

Pat Guilbert, owner of Neepawa Home Hardware ran out of sump pumps Friday.
"We were completely out in the matter of a day. Everyone came in asking for help, saying they were in trouble and willing to try anything," Guilbert said.

The shortfall of pumps has been relieved with a new shipment this past Monday.
"We are thankful that we re-stock every Monday and that we are ready for those that may still need them," Guilbert said.

John McIntyre from Environment Canada said that although farmers and area residents report different extremes of the rain amounts, that not a single thunderstorm hit their weather stations.

"That's the thing with thunderstorms, they are hit and miss. There was so much rain to begin with earlier in the month and in May, that the ground was so saturated, the ground couldn't take much more," McIntyre said.

McIntyre said that although June is a rainy month, the Heartland area has experienced heavy rain much more than usual.

"It all comes down to unstable air systems. These systems mix cool air a loft and warm air sinking and it creates instability. There is more rain expected for your area later in the week. You can expect over an inch for sure into the weekend," McIntyre said.
Alan McPhee of Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation Insurance Claims said that with the deadline for unseeded acres being last Sunday, they had already had a head start on claims, pushing many even before the deadline.

"We are expecting about 200 excess moisture claims. These come from about nine rural municipalities that we serve," McPhee said.
The amount of claims last year was only 80, but the exception this year is the high number of acres that are unseeded.

"There is nowhere near the amount of money that will be given out in claims this year compared to last. Even though the RM of Rosedale was hit hard last week, we are seeing higher numbers of distress from the Rm's of Glenella, McCreary, Lansdowne, and Westbourne. Forms are coming in steadily as we speak," McPhee said.
Claims can also be made for seeded acres, however, McPhee said there isn't much point in progressing those claims until land dries off.

"We need to wait to see what the yield is for the land that is above water, so we know what to compare too. If you have 200 acres seeded, and 100 of those acres is under water, we look to the remaining acres to see how the yield turns out," McPhee said.
Gordon Wilson a grain and cattle farmer from Glenella said he has 1700 acres to put in and only 800 has been seeded since the start of the season.

"With only the 800 acres in, there is no hope for the rest. We would need about two weeks of sun and good weather to be able to move at all to seed what remains. Lot's of what is seeded is finished, its under water and slowly dying," Wilson said.
In Eden on Friday, Jim Beaumont of Rainkie Sewage had both his trucks out pumping water of homes.

"We did seven homes in two days. We were mainly working on homes that were still salvageable. We weren't the only ones out there working. A Mennonite group and the Eden firetruck were out helping pump water out of basements. It was great to see people helping others in a time of need," Beaumont said.

Local contractors, F. Kozak and Sons, and Pat Baker were called upon over the weekend to help with the damage.

"We don't have enough equipment or manpower to combat this situation on our own, all work crews are hard at it with gravel trucks and heavy equipment," Levandoski said.
Levandoski said that as of Monday, he estimates $500,000 worth of damages to culverts alone.

"There is lots that needs to be replaced. Right now we have crews trying to make the school bus routes safe. We need to re-gravel, grate and do re-shaping of roads. This is very time consuming and very expensive. At this moment it is raining, and it's hampering our efforts. Everything has been destroyed. It will be weeks before it's all done. But we are very fortunate that no one was injured as far as I'm aware of," Levandoski said.

Lloyd Graham, a longtime Eden resident since 1960 said he has never seen flooding like this in the town of Eden.

"I wasn't even home when the flooding happened. I was up at the cabin and received a phone call to return home. I didn't know what to expect but it certainly wasn't the extreme flooding I saw,” Graham said.

“It was a surprise.”

With adjustors expected to survey the damage early this week, Graham noted the flood damage done to his basement, garage and a leaky roof.
"I guess the creek overflowed too much. I don't know what to do about my yard, it's so wet. I just hope it doesn't do this again," Graham said.

Pat Guilbert, owner of Neepawa Home Hardware ran out of sump pumps Friday.
"We were completely out in the matter of a day. Everyone came in asking for help, saying they were in trouble and willing to try anything," Guilbert said.
The shortfall of pumps has been relieved with a new shipment this past Monday.
"We are thankful that we re-stock every Monday and that we are ready for those that may still need them," Guilbert said.

John McIntyre from Environment Canada said that although farmers and area residents report record rainfall amounts, not a single thunderstorm hit their weather stations.

"That's the thing with thunderstorms, they are hit-and-miss. There was so much rain to begin with earlier in the month and in May, that the ground was so saturated, the ground couldn't take much more," McIntyre said.

McIntyre said although June is a rainy month, the Heartland area has experienced much heavier rainfall than usual.

"It all comes down to unstable air systems. These systems mix cool air aloft and warm air sinking and it creates instability. There is more rain expected for your area later in the week. You can expect over an inch for sure into the weekend," McIntyre said.

Alan McPhee of Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation Insurance Claims said that with the deadline for unseeded acres passing last Sunday, they had already had a head start on claims, pushing many even before the deadline.

"We are expecting about 200 excess moisture claims. These come from about nine rural municipalities that we serve," McPhee said.

The amount of claims last year was only 80, but the exception this year is the high number of acres that are unseeded.

"There is nowhere near the amount of money that will be given out in claims this year compared to last. Even though the RM of Rosedale was hit hard last week, we are seeing higher numbers of distress from the RMs of Glenella, McCreary, Lansdowne, and Westbourne. Forms are coming in steadily as we speak," McPhee said.
Claims can also be made for seeded acres, however, McPhee said there isn't much point in progressing those claims until land dries off.

"We need to wait to see what the yield is for the land that is above water, so we know what to compare too.

“If you have 200 acres seeded, and 100 of those acres is under water, we look to the remaining acres to see how the yield turns out," McPhee said.

Gordon Wilson a grain and cattle farmer from Glenella said he has 1,700 acres to put in and only 800 has been seeded since the start of the season.

"With only the 800 acres in, there is no hope for the rest. We would need about two weeks of sun and good weather to be able to move at all to seed what remains. Lots of what is seeded is finished, its under water and slowly dying," Wilson said.
In Eden on Friday, Jim Beaumont of Rainkie Sewage had both his trucks out pumping water of homes.

"We did seven homes in two days. We were mainly working on homes that were still salvageable. We weren't the only ones out there working. A Mennonite group and the Eden firetruck were out helping pump water out of basements. It was great to see people helping others in a time of need," Beaumont said.