Manitoba opens up province-wide financial support for residents affected by storms

STONEWALL, Man. – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew continued his tour of flood-ravaged communities with a visit to the town of Stonewall, where he announced a provincewide disaster financial assistance program. 

Kinew previously announced financial assistance would be available to residents in western Manitoba, where several rural communities declared states of emergency after floods burst riverbanks, swamping some homes and businesses last weekend. 

He says monetary help will now be extended to any Manitoba residents who have been affected by this week’s wild storms that flooded basements and damaged infrastructure across the province. 

Stonewall, a town of about 5,000 just north of Winnipeg, was among the hardest hit with 255 millimetres of rain in one night. 

It has advised residents to limit unnecessary water use and closed the local cemetery and Quarry Park due to overland flooding. 

Kinew did not provide a dollar amount that would be compensated, saying that would become more clear as cleanup operations continue. 

“No one in rural Manitoba is going to be left behind. Your provincial government is going make sure that there are the resources to help you clean up, to rebuild and to recover from these terrible storms that we’ve been seeing recently,” Kinew told reporters on Thursday while touring Stonewall. 

The premier encouraged flood-affected individuals to check with their insurance providers first, as the province’s financial assistance program covers uninsurable losses and disaster-related responses. 

Several municipalities are in cleanup mode after downpours this week that delivered sheets of water, tennis ball-size hail and resulted in hundreds of power outages. 

Manitoba Hydro expected most storm outages should be restored by the end of Thursday. 

The Crown corporation said 1,400 customers in Winnipeg remained without power. 

“Some customers have been without power for an extended period of time, and the utility recognizes the difficulty this causes customers. Multiple crews are prioritizing these outages, which include power lines down in several locations, and damage in areas that is difficult to reach with heavy equipment,” Hydro said in a statement Thursday afternoon. 

The utility is also monitoring an overland flooding situation near the Dorsey Converter Station in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, northwest of Winnipeg. 

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It said due to flooded roads and potential access issues, non-essential staff have been asked to work at other locations. 

The facility, which transmits more than 70 per cent of electricity produced in the province, continues to operate, and Hydro said there is no impact on service to customers. 

Flooding has prompted the province to cut several highways, including Highway 221 near Dorsey, to help relieve the pressure of water on rural communities. 

In some cases, roadways buckled under the high volumes of water.