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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
The rain has slowed down, and Swan River is starting to pick up the pieces.
Premier Wab Kinew said he'll be activating the province's Disaster Financial Asstiance Program, and will reach out to the Federal Government for additional help. He said that will hopefully help with people's immediate needs.
Rick Wowchuk, MLA for Swan River, said they've had a rough few days, but now that there's not as much rain, starting the cleanup will be a lot easier.
"Definitely a great improvement, we did not have too much rain last night, which was a positive thing, maybe a half an inch in some places. After what we had so far, 150mm around south of Minitonas, stuff like that, it was welcome just having a minimal amount of rain," said Wowchuk.
Even though he's been there for a long time, Wowchuk's community continues to surprise him. The amount of people he saw helping each other with sandbagging, pumping water, and lending a hand however they can, inspired a lot of hope for the community.
"People put out requests I saw on Facebook, and all of a sudden , 30 or 40 people would show up to help sandbag, and there were firefighters, people in the wildfire program, were bringing down their pumps and setting their pumps up," said Wowchuk.
Yesterday, Premier Kinew, Minister Kostyshyn, and Minister Naylor toured parts of Minitonas and Swan River to view the damage, where Kinew made the announcement about the Disaster Financial Assistance Program. Wowchuk wasn't made aware that the ministers would be in his community.
"This is a time where we've got to come together, we've got to put politics aside, and we've got to work together for the betterment of the community of Manitoba and the people that were involved," said Wowchuk.
After urging Premier Kinew and the Provincial Government to expedite financial aid, the Disaster Financial Assistance Program should go a long way. Wowchuk said Swan River's infrastructure isn't looking good, and will likely take a lot of time and money to fully repair.
"There's a lot of rebuilding to do. The structural damage on the municipal roads, on the highways, on the homes, is just second to none. The number of bridges, and this is the only access that people have, there's still people who have not been home since Sunday," said Wowchuk.
Wowchuk said the expedited financial assistance will help avoid a similar situation to Steinbach, where delayed financial assistance caused a lot of problems, and put a lot of the burden on the municipality.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
A summertime tradition in Russell returns this weekend with the 22nd annual Prairie Walleye Classic.
Over 60 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario will hit Lake of the Prairies Friday and Saturday, looking to land the big one that will earn them a share of the $30,000 in prize money, including $15,000 as the top prize.
Tournament Director Eric Labaupa says it is quite a site to see the boats take off to start the competition.
"We do a shot gun start at this tournament, so they are divided up into groups. But when the horn blows for each group, you will see 20-25 boats all taking off at the same time, with the roar of the engines. People who live along the lake will hear that roar each morning while they have their coffee on the deck and see the boats go by as they go after the fish."
Labaupa adds the festivities actually begin Thursday afternoon at 5 with a parade of the competing boats.
"You don't need a fancy boat or anything like that. There will be nice ones, regular ones, it does not really matter. Everyone is excited, and every single boat in the parade will be throwing freezies and candy and gum and stuff like that to the kids and all of the people lining the street. It starts around Manitoba Avenue and makes its way all the way down Main Street in Russell."
The awards ceremony wraps up the event on Saturday night.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
A water line break on Wednesday in the McCreary public water system has led the province to issue a boil water advisory for the system.
They say the break resulted in a loss of water pressure in the system. which can compromise the safety of the water supply.
Until further notice, all water used for consumption should be brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute before it is used.
This includes for drinking, ice making, and preparing baby formula, preparing food, and brushing teeth.
It is not necessary to boil tap water used for other household purposes, such as laundry or washing dishes.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
After flooding and rainfall over the weekend, many Minitonas and Swan Valley area farmers are left with fields either covered in water, or swept away by the currents. But all hope isn't lost yet for farmers with AgriInsurance or MASC policies.
David Van Deynze, MASC's Chief Product Officer, went over some of the options that farmers have for filing claims or finding solutions.
"So if the crop hasn't been seeded, and now is obviously very wet, we have what we call Excess Moisture Insurance, which is basically 'too wet to seed' insurance, so a farmer could be eligible for that...with any luck, there might still be something there to harvest, and they can certainly do that. If they feel that destroying the crop, what's left of the crop once it dries up, is in their best interest, they should certainly give us a call before they do that," said Van Deynze.
Van Deynze said he's been working with MASC for more than 20 years. In his time, he's seen a lot of times like last weekend, where lots of flooding and rainfall has led hundreds of farmers to contact MASC to submit their claims. This year's deadline to submit a Seeded Acreage Report is June 22nd, so if you plan on submitting a claim to MASC, make sure it's done before then.
And if you're a bit confused by the process, or you don't know what exactly to submit or file for, Van Deynze encourages you to reach out to your local MASC office. That's what they're there for.
"If you're not exactly sure of what you should do or what you're eligible for, that sort of thing, I would suggest contacting your local MASC service centre, for most of those folks in the Minitonas area that's likely the Swan River office, for some it potentially is the Dauphin office, depending on where exactly that they live...even if you've got insurance, hopefully there's a level of comfort there for those folks who've got some insurance, but the reality is it's a tough situation for any farmer, we're hoping for the best for them, and hoping they can navigate their way through this," said Van Deynze.
For more details about MASC's Excess Moisture Insurance, click here to view the factsheet on their website.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
Late last week, Dauphin RCMP arrested an individual for spray painting graffiti on a sign in Dauphin's rail yard, and was charged with mischief under $5,000 for the offence.
We spoke with Cpl. Jason Shaw with Dauphin RCMP about some of the costs of graffiti. Most people have a similar stance on graffiti to piracy, with it being a more "victimless crime". Cpl. Shaw says that couldn't be further from the truth.
"There's the cost within the community, property values as well as just the visual effect of what it does to a community...[victims] often have costs out of pocket if they were to try to clean up the vandalism, or if they have to make an insurance claim, again it's costs out of pocket, but it also drops the property value," said Cpl. Shaw.
Dauphin is no stranger to vandalism and graffiti. Recently, the City temporarily closed access to the skate park near the train station to do a deep clean and get rid of some graffiti. Cpl. Shaw said grafitti is often a sign of more serious underlying issues within a community.
"Vandalism is often an indication of other criminal activity in areas, we see lots of vandalism, spray painting, tagging, that type of stuff in known drug areas, as well as known gang areas," said Cpl. Shaw.
More often than not, when graffiti and vandalism affects businesses, that can raise prices. It's not very cheap to clean up graffiti.
"So if vandalism is continuous and happening, then that can be built into the price of the product or the service, and then customers, the general public, have to pay higher amounts for these products to help cover that off," said Cpl. Shaw.
And if you're the one behind the can? You may think you'll get off light, but Cpl. Shaw says that's definitely not the case. If you're thinking of tagging, think again. Anyone caught spray painting graffiti or other forms of vandlism almost always faces a charge of mischief, and a lot of fines.
"If it's a large cleanup and it's costly, it can be in the thousands of dollars, as far as any time in regards to jail, it's really dependant on what the judge and the lawyers decice. Typically we don't see people receive jail time for mischief, but often there's hefty fines, as well as conditions imposed by the court for them to abide by," said Cpl. Shaw.
Vandalism is far from victimless: it affects everyone in the community.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
After Sunday's storm in Minitonas dropped two months of rain in two hours, Mother Nature has one-upped herself. Stonewall saw more than 255mm of rain over a 3 hour span, that's 3 and half months worth of rain.
Brian Proctor, Environment Canada Meteorologist, went over some of the major causes of this storm, and why it had that much rain.
"So we had very significant flow up into Manitoba from the south, a warm moist air mass with a lot of shear in the atmosphere, which really supported very very significant thunderstorm development across much of south and central Manitoba, stretching up into the Interlake...the Stonewall area saw torrential rainfall, they received more than 255mm [of rain] by 3:00 AM," said Proctor.
Though it definitely wasn't limited to Stonewall: the effects of yesterday's severe storm system were felt all across the Parkland. Wind, rain, and in some towns, hail, were a big worry. Environment Canada also received several tornado reports from across the province, but are waiting on surveyors to assess the damage before they can confirm.
"Lots of reports of wind, lots of reports of hail associated with that, and possible reports of some tornado activity as well...[surveyors] are in the area, they've been doing some surveys in Saskatchewan, and they're expected to get into Southern Manitoba today I would think, and maybe we'll have some better reports, we'll be able to confirm some reports, by tomorrow or Friday hopefully at the latest.
One concern that echoes Sunday's storm in Minitonas is the possible runoff leading to flooding of nearby areas after the fact. Almost a day after that storm had cleared, a large portion of the runoff made its way to Swan River, prompting a local state of emergency to be declared.
"I don't think there's any infrastructure that's possibly built to take those kind of [rainfall] rates and deal with them at this point in time...be prepared to evacuate if you have to, plan your routes out, take the medication you require, get your animals out if you can," said Proctor.
Click here to visit the Government of Canada's website for information on how to make an emergency preparedness kit.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
It was year three of a powerful partnership.
The Dauphin Kings and MNP in Dauphin came together for the third year for the Goals for Giving program.
MNP's Dauphin office committed to donating $100 to a local organization every time the Kings scored six or more goals in a game this past season.
Jordan Pernarowski is with MNP.
"I'm a big believer that the Dauphin Kings are a massive asset to our community," he said. "They bring in lots of transactions to town that I don't think some people realize. They do a lot of good for the community. We're happy to support the Kings."
The rest was up to the Kings. Score six in a game and add $100 to the tally. MNP capped the donation at $1,000. In year one, the Dauphin & District Food Bank were the recipient. In year two, the Countryfest Community Cinema were the recipient.
From this past season, the Dauphin & District Food Bank is once again the recipient. Robin Gambler was on hand to receive the $1,000 cheque. In a time when community members need the Food Bank more than ever, this money will go a long way in helping the Food Bank continue its great service.
"You know, the Food Bank is one of those programs that does so much for people who need it," ended Pernarowski. "As a partner group here, we sat down and thought about who we wanted to give that $1,000 to. They do a lot for the community. They need support. Their demand has never been higher, so we're happy to help out."
Last month, Jordan ran a food drive at the Caddie's Golf Simulator & Lounge. Funds from that went directly to the DRCSS Wellness Centre.
It currently supports roughly 20 local families with food hampers. It also provides meal kits to students throughout the week.
Pernarowski was blown away by the support and appreciates everyone who chipped in.
"Caddie's for us is about trying to help the community. About bringing something to the community that everyone can enjoy," he ended. "We always want to give back. We learned about the Wellness Centre this year, and we thought that if we could help them out, it would be great. The Food Drive was a great success."
Community caring about the community. That's what Dauphin is all about.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
Manitoba's 93 Provincial Parks are breathtaking, and you can help keep them that way by donating in an interesting way.
The Province of Manitoba has announced their plans to introduce a new specialty license plate, with part of the sale going to the Manitoba Provincial Parks Endowment Fund. You can even help decide what the plate will look like.
Click here to visit Engage MB's website page to view the designs and submit your vote. Possible designs include a campsite at night, a teal loon on a lake, and a canoe with a sunset. The voting deadline is July 31st, and the plates are expected to be available next year.
Since the introduction of the Specialty License Plate Program in 2011, the Province has raised more than $6.2 million for charities and organizations.
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- Contributed by Ian Gillingham
