As the rest of the nation relaxed into the Easter long weekend, residents in parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba were battling flash floods that haven't abated yet.
As much as 100,000 acres of farmland were submerged in Manitoba's Red River Valley after the river swelled to 15 kilometers wide in some areas.
"This current flood is the fifth worst flooding in the century," said Ron Lemieux, Manitoba's Minister of Transportation and Government Services, after touring the southern parts of the province with Premier Gary Doer.
"It looks like there's a lot of agricultural land under water and damage to roads and infrastructure, which we're going to have to take care of," said Lemieux.
"It's going to be a while…before levels fall. It's going to be a slow decline, and the rain will serve to reduce that rate of decline on the Red River," said provincial river flood forecaster Alf Warkentin. "There will be access problems for probably another week or so, or even longer."
The flood also led to the indefinite closure of the border between Manitoba and North Dakota near Gretna where the water reached unusually high levels in the Pembina River.
Fortunately for Red River locals, initial forecasts of heavy rain in the region this week were downgraded by Environment Canada to only 10 millimeters of precipitation. On the down side, the weather system moved to western Manitoba which could see similar problems, said Warkentin.
In spite of the considerable damage done by this year's flooding in Manitoba, it was far worse in 1997, when 28,000 people were forced to evacuate their local residences.
"There [are] no evacuations, and to date we have no information of homes being affected, and that's because of the mitigative infrastructure that has been invested in over the last 10 years," said Chuck Sanderson, the executive director of Manitoba's Emergency Measures Organization (EMO).
Lemieux said that his province has spent approximately $130 million since the 1997 flood to "flood-proof" Manitoba's communities and residents.
"I would say we've made great gains since 1997, 'the flood of the century', and we've taken many measures to make sure that we are protected as much as we possibly can," said Lemieux.
Saskatchewan Reserve Evacuated
In northern Saskatchewan's Red Earth Reserve, roughly 1,000 inhabitants had to be evacuated to Prince Albert and Saskatoon after the Carrot River burst its banks.
"[Red Earth is in a] very flat low-lying area,…we have more water coming in to the area than what's leaving the area," said Dwayne Rowlett, a regional manager with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.
"As long as flow levels remain high, we could see the water level come up in Red Earth for the next few days," said Rowlett.
Heavy autumn rains, a big winter for snow, and a rapid spring melt have caused the high water levels in the river, said director of Basin Operations, Doug Johnson.
"These are the highest flows that we've seen in the Carrot River system since '72, '74, and '79. We're closing in on some of those high flows," said Johnson.
Officials have said that it might take more than a week before residents can move back to the reserve.
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