North Whiteshell businesses welcome back customers after record flooding

Business owners in the WhiteshellProvincial Park are trying to get back to normal weeks after receiving evacuation orders amid record floods in the region.

The high water in the eastern Manitoba park caused major damages, resulting in lost revenue for businesses already affected by a wet spring and delayed summer.

D.J. Seales, owner of the Barrier Bay resort and president of the North Whiteshell Business Association, says the last few weeks of closures could cost surrounding businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair.

"I know one property, one resort, their damages are in the millions," he said.

Seales, who has been frequenting north Whiteshell for around 40 years, says he has never seen the water rise so high, or asquickly, as it did last spring.

The Lake of the Woods Control Board wrote in a statement Thursday that decreasing water levels in the Winnipeg River basin will take time.

Lake of the Woods, which drains into the Winnipeg River, is currently at its highest-recorded level since 1950, the statement said, and from that lake, water flows upintothe Whiteshell.

Witha sustained period of hot and dry weather, "the level could reach the normal operating range in mid-August," the control board wrote. However, if wet conditions continue, the water will take longer to lower.

The flooding submerged beaches and hiking trails in north Whiteshell, Seales said, resulting in cancellations for resorts. And resorts with more attractions, such as restaurants and stores, were hit more intensely by the flooding, he said.

"The second you get water in, you have to do remediation. You have to get the mould out.It's a big process to get it back to a safe condition," he said.

The community banded together during the flooding, but the damages can't be entirely assessed until the water recedes, according to Seales.

The water level has been dropping an inch per night, he said.

"We're happy that it's going down," he said. "But then starts the 'What happens? Where is the erosion? What was damaged? What do we need to fix?' All of that.

"It's good that it's going down, but it's just entering into another stage of what to do."

He advises those who travel to Whiteshell to have some compassion for employees, who are trying to make tourists' experience the best possible.

The pandemic has not helped the situation either. Lumberand contractors' serviceswere already costlybefore the pandemic, Sealessays, but inflation and supply shortages have only intensified those costs.

Erica Seales, co-owner of Barrier Bay resort, says the situation is frustrating for everyone, especially because of the pandemic.

"People want to get back to normal, they want to get back to life and Manitobans really look forward to summer," she said.

Customer traffic at Barrier Bay is not back to the levels expected around this time of year, according to Erica. She said while it was good to see customers back at the resort on Canada Day, their presence was missed during the May long weekend.

"We're glad to see the water starting to go down and we're happy to have our guests back," she said.

"But it still feels like a slow start. It feels really slow."