Manitoba Flood Facts

Manitobans have been weathering major floods since the early 1800s. In the past 60 years, the floods in 1950, 1997 and 2009 have caused substantial damage, especially along the Red River and Assiniboine River basins. At the same time, Manitoba's flood fighting efforts have improved greatly and have significantly reduced the number of evacuations and the amount of damage spring flooding can cause.

Floods of 1950

• Major flooding took place in Winnipeg and the Red River Valley in April/May/June.
• The melting of heavy snow caused the Red River to reach flood levels in Winnipeg by April 22.
• A heavy rainfall in early May caused the river to peak at a record 9.2 metres (30.2 feet) at James Avenue in Winnipeg. The levels stayed above the flood stage for 51 days.
• The water depth reached 4.6 metres (15 feet) in low lying areas.
• A state of Emergency was declared and the Canadian army and Red Cross were brought in to help protect residents and property and help with evacuations.
• Over the course of the flood, 100,000 residents (one third of Winnipeg) were evacuated from their homes - the largest evacuation in Canadian history (until the 1979 Mississauga train derailment).
• Approximately 10,000 homes were destroyed and 5,000 buildings were damaged.
• Heavy snow during the previous winter and heavy spring rain contributed to flood conditions.
• It was estimated that the 1950 flood resulted in $125.5 million in damages (about $1 billion in today's figures.)

Floods of 1997

• The flood in April and May, 1997, was the most severe in Manitoba's Red River valley since 1852.
• Flooding on the Red River also caused high running water on other Manitoba rivers and the Red River flood directly or indirectly affected communities in: Emerson, Rosenort, St. Jean Baptiste, Morris, St. Adolphe, , Portage la Prairie, Ste. Agathe, Norbert, Letellier, Dominion City, Grande Pointe, Niverville, Gretna, Aubigny, Lowe Farm, Riverside, St. Pierre-Jolys, Rosenfeld, Roseau River First Nation, Hadashville, Scanterbury, Brunkild, Domain, Sanford and Winnipeg.
• A dry summer in 1996 was followed by heavy rain in the fall that greatly increased soil moisture, creating the possibility of flooding. The winter of 1996 was unusually long and cold. There were four blizzards with high winds and heavy snow that caused extensive drifting and made it hard to measure snow levels accurately.
• Total basin precipitation, from the start of winter to near the crest of the Red River in early May, totalled 221 millimetres (8.9 inches), well above the norm of 130 millimetres (5 inches). This figure may be underestimated because of the difficulty in accurately measuring drifting snow levels.
• Gradual spring melting started in late March. A Colorado low at the beginning of April brought major snowfall of up to 90 millimetres (3.5 inches) to the Red River Valley. Melting resumed in mid-April and happened really quickly.
• Spring runoff volume for the Red River at Emerson (up to June 15) was 6.75 million acre-feet (8.33 million cubic decametres), representing an average runoff depth of 135 millimetres (5.3 inches). This is almost identical to the 1950 runoff volume.
• The runoff in spring, 1997, was especially heavy in several areas: where the Red River starts near Halstad, North Dakota; in the lower Pembina River Watershed; and on most eastern tributaries of the Red River in Manitoba. Many streams in these areas had record or near record high water flow.
• The Red River crested at approximately 7.5 metres (24.5 feet) at the James Avenue Pumping Station in Winnipeg. Without the flood control works, the crest would have been at 10.5 metres (35 feet).
• In Canada, over 7,000 military personnel were employed for 36 days to help prevent flood damage and relocate 25,450 evacuees.
• An estimated 1,000 homes were damaged.

Floods of 2009

• The 2009 spring flood was the fourth highest on the Red River in Manitoba, since 1826.
• Flood forecasts in February and March 2009 indicated the likelihood of a spring flood between 2006 and 1979 levels with less than a 10-per-cent chance of a flood as large as that of 1997.
• Spring precipitation was close to average and the melt rate was not unusually fast.
• A heavy rainstorm in the first week of November, 2008 was a major factor in the flood. The high level of ground frost, due to the cold winter, kept the ground from absorbing much of the spring runoff.
• Above-average snowpack in the US part of the watershed also contributed to the flood.
• Flooding in the Red River watershed was worse due to unusual ice conditions which caused blocks in the drainage system and raised river levels beyond what would have occurred under normal conditions.
• Ice jams in the Breezy Point and St. Peters Road areas raised the Red River about 2.74 metres (9 feet) overnight, at up to 0.6 metres (2 feet) an hour, to record levels. Serious ice jams from Lockport to Lower Fort Garry in the last week of March raised levels in the area to within 0.3 metres (1 foot) of the 1997 crest.
• If there had been no flood control works, the crest would have been 9.9 metres (32.5 feet) at the James Avenue Pumping Station in Winnipeg.
• The river crested in Winnipeg at 6.9 metres (22.5 feet) on April 16, at 0.6 metres (2 feet) lower than in 1997.
• The greatest success of the 2009 flood was the protection provided by operation of major flood controls. Operation of the Red River Floodway, Portage Diversion and Shellmouth Reservoir reduced the crest in Winnipeg by 10 feet, preventing approximately $10 billion in damages.
• An estimated 250 homes were damaged.

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