By The Canadian Press
Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler delivers Manitoba’s first flood outlook of the season in Winnipeg on Thursday, February 27, 2020. (CHRISD.CA)
The Red River Floodway gates south of Winnipeg are shown on Friday, October 11, 2019. (CHRISD.CA FILE)
WINNIPEG — A relatively warm and dry winter is easing annual spring flood fears in Manitoba.
Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler says there has not been a lot of snow in southern Manitoba this season, and the mild weather so far has already helped some of it dissipate.
One cause for concern is heavy snowfall along the United States portion of the Red River, but the river in Manitoba is wider and has more capacity.
Schuler says much depends on the weather in the coming weeks but right now the only risk of note is Highway 75, which runs from Winnipeg to the U.S. border.
Schuler says with average weather over the coming weeks, a section of that highway might be closed, as it was in the spring of 2011.
Defences in the Red River valley have been built up since the so-called Flood of the Century in 1997, and communities have ring dikes and diversion ditches to protect homes and businesses.
