Steinbach still in recovery mode after consecutive years of heavy floods

It is the type of storm that is supposed to happen once a century: two months of rain in a single night.

But Steinbach's animal shelter, which moved into a new building more than two years ago, has yet to experience a September when it did not have to evacuate its animals due to flooding.

And at least 200 residents in the southeastern Manitoba city are still waiting to find out whether they can expect financial aid for the back-to-back floods from a provincial disaster relief fund.

"[The floods were] almost a year to the day, so it's kind of unbelievable in that sense," said Graham Pollock, vice-president of Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue.

In 2024, a storm dropped 156 millimetres of rain over Sept. 16-17.

This year, the rain fell even harder. Over Sept. 11-12, the city was deluged with 103 millimetres in just four hours, and 135 millimetres by the time it stopped, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue volunteers had to find homes for 22 animals that needed a home for the month it took to clear the damage and restore power.

The volunteer-run organization has now spent $50,000 on overland flooding deductibles in two years, and the repairs are still incomplete.

Pollock says when this year's rain fell, he got a call at 2 a.m. that water was again pouring through windows and filling the basement.

Shelter president Michelle Neufeld happened to be checking on the cats late that night, Pollock recalled, only to see history repeating itself. There was no rainfall warning from Environment Canada for the unexpected deluge.

"She could see in the back, the water was starting to come out from the drain … and start to creep across the yard," Pollock said.

A pool two metres deep formed in the shelter’s basement. All the food was under water and other supplies were bobbing near the ceiling.

Other Steinbach residents were also hit hard by the second year of flooding. The intensely focused line of the storm also dropped more than 100 millimetres of rain on La Broquerie, 10 kilometres east of Steinbach, and on Niverville, 20 kilometres northwest of the city.

Troy Warkentin, Steinbach's city manager, says the province has yet to declare the flood a disaster and approve aid for about 200 people who applied for assistance with uninsured costs through the Manitoba Disaster Financial Assistance program.