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Another major storm is tracking toward Manitoba, and the provincial government expects it will push its flood-fighting capacity to the limit.
The storm, expected to arrive Sunday or Monday, comes on top of four downpours in the last five weeks and the ground remains saturated.
"It's impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation," Steve Ashton, Manitoba's minister of emergency measures, told reporters on Thursday. "I'd say we're on a high state of alert again. Our flood defences will clearly be pushed to the limit. We are putting in place various initiatives to deal with that."
Work has resumed to shore up the Portage diversion and the Assiniboine River dikes, Ashton said.
Saskatchewan has seen far more than its usual share of rain so far this year, CBC meteorologist Michelle Leslie reported. Estevan, for example, has seen 224 millimetres of rain in the past five weeks, she said. The town's annual average is 333 mm.
The predicted storm could push the Assiniboine River back up to the record levels it reached a few weeks ago.
The new storm will also add to the challenges the province already faces, Ashton said: "When you look at the historic scale of this flood, it is very clear that we are going to be dealing with this for many days and weeks and months to come."
The Assiniboine crested several weeks ago, but not before troops worked tirelessly to reinforce dikes and build up a channel near Portage la Prairie that sends flood water into Lake Manitoba.
Ashton said the army isn't being recalled yet, but officials will be closely monitoring dikes and diversions in the coming days.
The Assiniboine and Souris river basins have received up to 300 per cent more rain than normal, officials said. That's pushed water levels well above normal and exacerbated flooding.
Dike deliberately cut
When the Assiniboine was rising several weeks ago, the province decided to deliberately cut into a dike and intentionally flood farmland near Portage la Prairie. The intentional flood was intended to prevent a much larger natural flood downstream.
The controlled release prompted frantic sandbagging because it was expected to surround about 150 homes and flood more than 200 square kilometres. However, fewer than 3.5 square kilometres were affected before the dike was sealed a week later when river levels began to recede.
The flood fight has since shifted to Lake Manitoba, where hundreds of residents and cottagers have been ordered to leave their properties due to high winds and high waves.
Storms that have battered the area have caused extensive damage, downed hydro lines and washed out roads. Lake Manitoba isn't expected to crest until mid-July and is anticipated to remain high well into the winter.
