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Peguis First Nation is starting immediate evacuation of some residents as the community in Manitoba’s Interlake region braces for a potentially devastating flood.
Evacuations of first-priority residents — including people who have medical disabilities, are diabetic, pregnant or need additional help — will begin at once, the First Nation announced Monday afternoon.
Peguis has been scrambling to prepare for flooding the province has warned could reach levels seen in 2022, when about 2,000 people were forced out of the community. The community and neighbouring Fisher River Cree Nation declared a state of emergency Saturday.
Stuart Stevenson, who was evacuated to Winnipeg along with his elderly father in 2022, said he does not want to live through that again.
“Wasn’t easy living in hotels, you know,” the 62-year-old Peguis resident said Monday. “When we came home, … everything was all damaged. All the house was damaged, all my basement.”
About 500 homes were damaged in the 2022 flood, the First Nation has previously said.
Peguis Chief Stan Bird said last week more than 200 homes needed to be protected ahead of spring runoff this year.
A stick by Stevenson’s home had a marker indicating the water could reach up to his knees.
He said he’s worried his sump pump will not be able to keep up with that amount of water. Stevenson still had no sandbags as of Monday afternoon.
“What I was trying to do is try to get everything all together, put everything up high because I know we’re going to get evacuated,” he said. “I know I wouldn’t be able to do it when I’m gone.”
A provincial flood bulletin issued Monday said spring runoff is expected to begin this week across much of central Manitoba, including the Fisher River and Icelandic River basins.
The bulletin said more than half a million sandbags and 11,000 super-sized sandbags have been provided to assist Peguis, while the community of Fisher River has received more than 36,000 sandbags and 1,000 of the larger sandbags.
‘I don’t know where they’ll take us’
Angela Flett was helping out her cousin, who lives near the Fisher River, Monday afternoon. Crews were placing sandbags around the property.
“I said, ‘It’s going to be coming within days, so it has to be done,'” she said.
About half of the community’s residents remained there during the flooding in 2022.
Flett, who lives next door to her cousin, was among those who stayed. She plans to stick around this year as well.
“We sat there for a day and night taking the water out with pumps,” she said. “We stayed and watched our homes because who else is going to watch them?… My mother never left her home in 2022, and I’m not. I’m going to watch her home, make sure [it’s] safe.”
Peguis did not provide an exact number of people who would be evacuated. It said its health centre will be calling the first-priority residents, with the Canadian Red Cross helping find beds for evacuees.
The First Nation is asking other residents to make sure their cars are fuelled up and to keep belongings packed upstairs away from basements, with medication, identification and clothing ready to go.
Bruce Sinclair, 75, said he’ll leave only if he has to.
“I don’t know where they’ll take us,” he said, adding many residents who were forced out of the community in 2022 and other recent major floods are still not back in the community years later.
“I have a daughter and granddaughters in Winnipeg. One’s been there for quite some time,” Sinclair said. “I don’t feel very good. When you have to leave your home, who’s going to feel good about it?”
Some areas set to get more rain, snow
Monday’s provincial bulletin said much of central and northern Manitoba could get between 20 and 60 millimetres of rain and snow. While most heavily impacted areas will be in the north, the Fisher River and Icelandic River basins are forecast to get between 15 and 25 millimetres of rain and snow.
Runoff in the Parkland area is also set to begin this week, the bulletin said.
The Red River in Winnipeg peaked Friday below a projected provincial crest.
In Brandon, the Assiniboine River is set to crest between April 26 and May 1, well within the city’s flood-protection capabilities.
Peguis First Nation started evacuating its most vulnerable residents from the Manitoba Interlake community on Monday, as it faces a potentially devastating spring flood.
