Winnipeg woman sinks into slush covering Assiniboine River after province releases water from reservoir
CBC
A Winnipeg woman had a frightening experience when she stepped out onto what she thought was the frozen Assiniboine River with her dog and ended up sinking into slush.
"At one point I was in up to my hips and my mitts and my boots, everything was completely full of water," said Earl Grey resident Melissa Steele.
"That was really scary."
Steele set out to walk along the river bank to the entrance to the skating trail at Hugo Docks. Finding the snow along the riverbank in Munson Park too deep to walk through, Steele decided to go out onto the ice, which normally would be frozen solid at this time of year.
On Thursday, however, the Manitoba government announced it was increasing the amount of water released from the Shellmouth Reservoir ahead of the spring runoff, which increased the flow of water downstream on the Assiniboine River.
In a news release, the province said the increase in water flow was expected to raise river levels by one to two feet (30 to 61 centimetres) at the Shellmouth Dam and Brandon, but that it should diminish as the river approached Winnipeg.
Steele hadn't heard about the increased flow of water, and she said she saw no visible signs that the ice conditions had changed before stepping out onto the river.
The overnight low on Saturday was –35 C.
Steele's dog was able to walk over the top layer, but with the deep snow on the bank she didn't think she could get back up, so she slogged through the cold, wet slush toward the docks, which she could see about 100 feet away from her.
"I wasn't thinking. I was just, I just went into survival mode," she said.
"I was just thinking, I could see where I was going to be safe and that we needed to get there."
Along the way, she managed to call her sister and tell her to come meet her at the docks, but after that Steele lost her phone.
She can't remember how long it took her, but eventually made it to the docks and back up the riverbank.
"At that point, my hands were like fists. Like, I couldn't open my fingers," she said.
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