page_title: 2009 Red River flood
section_title: Manitoba
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 Red River flood / Predictions and preparations / Manitoba
caption_attribution_description: Flooding in Manitoba
context_page_description: The 2009 Red River flood along the Red River of the North in North Dakota and Minnesota in the United States and Manitoba in Canada brought record flood levels to the Fargo-Moorhead area. The flood was a result of saturated and frozen ground, spring snowmelt exacerbated by additional rain and snow storms, and virtually flat terrain. Communities along the Red River prepared for more than a week as the U.S. National Weather Service continuously updated the predictions for the city of Fargo, North Dakota, with an increasingly higher projected river crest. Originally predicted to reach a level of near 43 feet at Fargo by March 29, the river in fact crested at 40.84 feet at 12:15 a.m. March 28, and started a slow decline. The river continued to rise to the north as the crest moved downstream.
context_section_description: In Manitoba, the 2009 flood was the second worst on record since 1826. The Red River Floodway was not initially opened, due to the Red River being full of ice, which can lead to damage of the floodway and the flooding of Selkirk. The Red River Floodway was opened in early April once the ice jams cleared. Several towns and R.M.s declared a state of emergency due to the ice jams built up in places along the Red. Flooding in Manitoba was not expected until the second week of April. The CPR Line from Winnipeg to Emerson closed.
  The floodway was opened around 1 p.m. on April 8 due to a crest expected to hit the city of Winnipeg. Highway 75, a major artery between Winnipeg and the U.S. border, was closed between April 7 and May 13. This closure cost Manitoba trucking companies thousands of dollars in  additional travel costs and severely hurt the economy of the town of Morris.
  An eight-year-old boy fell into the river on Thursday,
  April 9 on the Westroc Hutterite Colony which is near Portage la Prairie.  Samuel Gross came out of his 13-day coma after being under icy cold water for 20 minutes.  The team under Murray Kesselman, director of the Health Sciences Centre pediatric intensive care unit, worked on Gross's heart for two hours before it started to beat on its own and he began to recover. Walter Imbeck, 68 years old, went missing since April 11 when friends and neighbours thought he was trying to clear a broken drain behind his home, which was along the riverbank.  As of April 13, several communities north of Winnipeg had to be evacuated due to flash flooding and ice jams on the Red River. It was predicted to be the third worst flood, next to the floods of 1950 and 1997. A 79-year-old woman, Mary, died, and her 82-year-old husband, Glen Silverthorn, went missing Easter Sunday after their car was swept into the Woody River.  A search commenced, and his body was found on May 19.
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured the flooded area on April 14, 2009. Damages were expected to be in the millions. On April 15, 2009, Winnipeg declared a local state of emergency due to several of the rivers, which flow into the Red River, swelling extremely fast. On April 16, 2009, the Red River crested in Winnipeg at 22.6 feet (6.9 m) before retreating. If Winnipeg had not had any flood protection, the city would have been 9.23 meters (30.3 ft) submerged.  The crest from North Dakota was expected to hit either April 19 or April 20 and forced 28,000 evacuations. 777 km² (300 sq mi) are under water at some places 19 kilometers (12 mi) wide as reported April 18.  740 people were evacuated from the Peguis First Nation, which is located north of Winnipeg.  Peguis Chief Glenn Hudson said "either build a dike, or a floodway around ... I think we have to do something,"   Steve Ashton, minister responsible for the emergency measures organization, said that Disaster Financial Assistance was doubled to $200,000.  The Federal Government was expected to assist with up to 90% of the relief, and 100% on reserves.
  The province assessed whether homeowner buyouts would be voluntary or mandatory.  "We'd look at voluntary buyouts as the first option, but the municipalities have raised this ...they're the ones that have to send in first responders and rescue crews," said Steve Ashton, the province's Emergency Measures Minister. Mayor Sam Katz reported an estimated $5 million for sandbag flood prevention costs, which included making and setting into place the sandbags and patrolling them, and then removing them after the river went back down.  Some roads and bridges were also damaged as a result of flooding.  Peguis Chief Glen Hudson estimated the evacuation and dike construction for the first nation reserve was pegged at approximately $3 million. A water quality warning went into effect, and residents who remained were advised to boil water before use.  Free water analysis was provided by the Manitoba government until July.  On April 20, the total amount of land submerged was upgraded to 1,680 km² (650 sq mi), and the river crest was still 60 kilometers (37 mi) sout
caption: Flooding in Manitoba on April 19, 2009
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