Article appeared in the April 14 Issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Riverton Mayor, Colin Bjarnason, was out near the foot bridge on the north end of town, at 6:30 a.m. on Apr. 12, when ice on the Icelandic River hit the pillars and swept half the bridge away. Soon after, at 8:30 a.m., he declared a local state of emergency for the Village of Riverton.
Schools were closed, an amphibex worked to break up ice north of the walking bridge. Sand-bagging continued with the help of high school students and local church groups. The Fire Department, and the RCMP sprang into action. Manitoba Hydro was called. MTS was needed to fix a line that was ripped apart when the walking bridge went down, and Manitoba conservation helped direct traffic away from Main St. which had been closed off to keep curious on-lookers at arms length, to give room to emergency personnel and sand-baggers. Officials from Water Stewardship were in the area, regulating the speed of water down the river, by gradually poking the ice underneath several of the bridges with the help of backhoes.
In Riverton, water had risen quickly overnight as ice jammed against the bridges, backing up water into ditches and culverts, several of which were damaged by the force of the ice. With water not able to flow into the river, it was forced up storm and sewer drains, causing it to spill into the town’s Main St.
“Last night it seemed pretty good. Then, this morning, when everyone woke up, the water was rising,” said Doug Anderson, Public Information Officer for the North East Interlake Emergency Measures Board.
Fortunately, at 10:15 a.m., the water started to flow again, to the relief of the townspeople who were on evacuation alert, and to officials. Within hours the water level went down by several feet, although still flowing at high capacity.
“Once the ice is north of the community, it’s a relief,’ said Bjarnason. “The fortunate thing this year is that the ice wasn’t as thick as it was in 2009, (but) this one seemed to happen faster.”
Bjarnason is still concerned about dikes on the east side of the river that should be raised a couple more feet. He is working on getting provincial funding to correct the situation.
The day before, on April 11 at 9:30 a.m., the RM of Bifrost declared its own a state of emergency, for the whole of Bifrost, which covers an area of 400 square miles.
“There was just water everywhere—water running across roads–washouts. We had to cut four of the roads in order to let water flow to the other side. (A state of emergency) just had to be declared,” said Reeve of Bifrost, Harold Foster.
“We’ve had flooding in all portions of the municipality. We had so many washouts that we ran out of barricade signs,” he said.
Overland flooding is widespread throughout the area. Many fields in the RM of Bifrost and Armstrong look more like lakes. Ditches are nearly overflowing onto highways, many roads are washed out. In the town of Arborg, the Icelandic River threatens to reach the edges of streets, having risen to the base of the bridge on Main St..
The state of emergency will remain in effect in Riverton until the water is “down to a level where the community is safe,’ said Bjarnason.
While, in the RM of Bifrost, “Ditches will get back within their boundaries in another four days. The crisis is over. We’re in cleanup mode now,” said Foster.
“We thank all the people who came out and did sandbagging; and also the people from the EOC. Everybody did a great job,” Foster added.
