news Federal gov't ready to help flood-washed Manitoba 'any way that is needed'

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Federal gov't ready to help flood-washed Manitoba 'any way that is needed'


2 hours, 10 minutes ago




By Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press

MORRIS, Man. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper got a bird's-eye view Tuesday of one area in flood-washed Manitoba and said the federal government is ready to help any way it can.
Harper was speaking in Winnipeg after a helicopter tour over the town of Morris south of the city. "The federal government stands ready to assist in any way that is needed ... as the situation unfolds," Harper said.
He wasn't asked about a suggestion from Morris Mayor Dale Hoffman that the federal government help build a sort of super-floodway to protect land all along the Red River during flood season.
But Harper did note that it costs less to spend money on ways to protect against flooding rather than pay for its consequences.
"It's much cheaper for the federal government to contribute to some of these mitigation measures ... than to contribute to all the various disaster relief actions every single year."
Earlier in the day, Harper walked the massive earth dike protecting Morris and stood next to Highway 75 that runs from the United States border to the Manitoba capital, but which is now closed in places because it is under two metres of water - almost as high as the road signs along it.
Harper met briefly with municipal officials who want better protection from rising waters. Hoffman said he appeared genuinely concerned about the flooding, but didn't get into specifics.
Hoffman wants the federal and provincial governments to build a diversion channel that would keep water away from smaller communities during the annual spring melt.
He said it would be much like the floodway that protects Winnipeg, but would begin at the border and stretch some 200 kilometres through the Red River Valley.
"If we were to take the peaks off the flood flows and run (the river) down another channel from the border down to Lake Winnipeg, I think we could leave a pretty good legacy for our children," he said.
"From the federal government I'd like to see a long-term vision, a goal, some form of a plan that will help to mitigate the flooding, something that is going to keep the Red River Valley from flooding every second or third year."
Hoffman said something has to be done to alleviate flooding in the valley because it is becoming more and more frequent.
Massive ring dikes are keeping the deluge away from Morris and other towns, but the river has swamped highways and farms and damaged homes north of Winnipeg.