Major southern Manitoba highway closure a blow to flood-stricken communities, trucking industry
CBC
People in communities along Highway 75 in Manitoba are surprised the province has closed part of it due to flooding, especially because it was raised after the last major flood.
Highway 75 closed just north of the rural municipality of Montcalm south of Morris on Monday night, making travel out of area communities more challenging, Reeve Paul Gilmore said.
The province said it's detouring traffic because of overland flooding and dike construction in the area, but Gilmore said floodwaters are stable in the area at this time.
"We're still troubled that they're doing that so early, because we feel that there's still an opportunity to be using that route, and it it would add maybe another hour or so on our trip to Winnipeg," he said in an interview on CBC Manitoba's Radio Noon on Tuesday.
The closure of the main Winnipeg-U.S. border highway link comes as people continue to be evacuated from the rural municipality.
As of Tuesday, 69 people have left 27 homes, and others have been asked to leave but decided to stay behind with their property, Gilmore said.
"The evacuation orders seem to be constant and we anticipate there will be more," he said.
An updated Red River forecast that the U.S. National Weather Service issued on Monday predicts the Red River crest at Pembina, N.D., will be 0.61 metres (two feet) below the record set in 1997 and slightly above 2009 levels. It's expected on May 9.
"That's troubling for sure," Gilmore said.
The highway closure just south of Morris was also a surprise for Scott Crick, mayor of the town about 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
The province closed the major route on the north side of the town on Friday because of a risk of flooding.
Crick thought the highway south of Morris would remain open a while longer, especially since it was raised recently, but believes it was closed out of an abundance of caution.
"The water still had a couple of feet to go to get on the ground," he said.
"The challenges is that the water is not quite draining as expected. This is really the first large flooding event we've had since Highway 75 was rebuilt south of town, so I believe right now they're erring on the side of caution."
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