Flood Watch 2011 - My Backyard

Disclaimer: If you came here for information about the Manitoba Flood 2011, you've probably come to the wrong place. This post (or series of posts) will focus only on my backyard and house. If you are looking for general information regarding the flood, try the Government of Manitoba website, which can be found here or here for more area specific information regarding the Cartier, St. Francois Xavier and Headingley areas.

Two years ago (April 2009) when we moved into the house, we honestly didn't pay much attention to the river. Call us very naive. The river is normally about 600-800 metres away and while the house did flood in 1997, during the Flood of the Century, the house has had some flood proofing since then. Anyway, one week after we moved in, the river rose to within 15 metres (50 feet) of our house. (The large tree in the last photo below was on the "new" river bank). It was mighty scary. We were still 6-8 feet above the water line so we didn't have to sand bag or do too much other than watch the river and worry.

Flash forward to this year, 2011. The other day we attended a flood meeting for our area. Apparently, the situation is dire. We still don't know what that means for our house. We will be receiving some more information at some point, but until then we wait (for the next forecast), prepare (as much as we know to do), and pray (that the weather cooperates and that the forecast gets better).

For the next several weeks, I'll be posting periodic updates and some pictures of our backyard. Hopefully, we'll never see the river in any of them. Right now the long term forecasted crest is in late April. There will probably not be much change for a few weeks, but I'll post again when there's been a change or we learn something new.

For now here are a few photos taken from the second floor of the house.