Southeastern Manitobans wade through flooded streets, basements after massive downpour

People in parts of southeastern Manitoba are dealing with overland flooding after heavy rain swamped the region Monday into Tuesday.

Stephen Berg, a meteorologist withEnvironment and Climate Change Canada, said a slew ofthunderstorms started rolling into southeastern Monday morning, bringingheavy rainfall and a tornado warning for the region on Monday afternoon.

Elma, a community in the Whiteshellarea in eastern Manitoba, got thehighest amount of rain in the province, with 205 millimetres recorded over a 36-hour period,Berg said Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada said the city ofSteinbachhad 156 millimetresof rain between Monday and Tuesday, leading to overland floodingand some road closures.

Heavy rains also hit some communities further west, with Winkler getting133 millimetres, according to Environment Canada.

"This is quite an event," said Berg."You'd expect an event like this one once every 120 years, 130 years or more."

Animal shelter floods week after opening

An animal shelter that recently opened its doors in Steinbach was among the buildings that had basement flooding on Tuesday.

"The ribbon cutting was last week something we've worked towards foryears," Sandra Watson, a volunteer adoption co-ordinator at the shelter, told CBC News on Tuesday.

"It is a big blow."

Water started poolingin a ditch in front of the shelter on Tuesday morning, but with no immediate indication of flooding risk, Watson said the shelter kept running as normal.

But by noon, the water started flooding the shelter's backyard, and soon after, the building had becomean island surrounded by rainwater, she said.

As the water started pouring through windows into the shelter's basement, volunteers worked to moveanimal foodand supplies into a storage room.

"But it [the water] was coming in fast, and we eventually had to just stop once it became waist-high," she said. "It was unsafe for our volunteers."

Watson said no animals were injured during the flooding, and theshelter is in the process of relocatingthem to foster families or other animal hospitals while the water is pumped out.

Nikita Pandya, a Steinbach resident, said she spent three orfour hours draining her house's basement after it flooded on Tuesday.

The water, gushing fromdrains and through the house's garage, quickly flooded thebasement, eventuallyreaching knee-high.

"Everythingis mashed up downstairs," she said. "We just set up last week, and it's all messed up."

Pandya said her basement wasn't the only one dealing with the issue on her street, with at leasttwo neighboursalso experiencing flooding.

The flooding also left some cars stranded on the streets of Steinbach.

Lois Janz was driving through the city onTuesday when she saw vehicles stuck atMain Street and Highway 12, one of the city's main intersections, with water rising upto their doors.

"People had to climb out of the cars, chest deep in the water, pushing their cars out," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen that much water in Steinbach ever in my life."

Massive rainfall floods Steinbach streets

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Commuters and residents brave flooded roads near the intersection of Main Street and Highway 12 in Steinbach on Tuesday. Lois Janz shot this video while running errands around midday and says there was a 'community feel' as people helped push each other's stuck cars out of deep water.

Janz, who waswaiting to pass through the intersection, said she was glad to be in a truck.

"Otherwise, I don't know if I would have made it through" the intersection.

Meanwhile, people coming out of stores were taking off theirshoes and rolling up their pants to wade back totheir cars, she said.

Flooded streets, basements inHanover

In the rural municipality of Hanover,some roads wereclosed Tuesday due to washouts, an update on the RM's website said.

Reeve Jim Funk said the RM got multiple reports of basement flooding on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall.

One resident reported walking through nearly waist-high water on a road in the community of Kleefeld,hetold CBC Tuesday afternoon.

"You cannot prepare for this amount of rain in such a short time," Funk said. "It's never thought through well enough."

Canoeing through flooded southern Manitoba community

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Southern Manitoba communities like Mitchell were flooded Tuesday after heavy rainfall. Shelley Gross shot this video from a canoe in the area around Reichenbach Road in Mitchell, a community west of Steinbach.

The RM was pumping water from ditches and storm sewers Tuesday to mitigate the impact of flooding, but Funk said it wouldbe "well into the evening and maybe even in the night" before the situation can be declared under control.

The rural municipality is also offering sandbags for residents facing the threat of flooding throughout the afternoon, adding reports of flooded farmland and drainage ditches running full are not considered emergencies at this time.

Environment Canada's Berg said more rain is expected for southeastern Manitoba this week, with the risk of morethunderstorms Wednesday.