The flood waters from the ice jam and surges have receded. Mostly. We are still left with huge puddles. Here are some recent photos:
...I know it's hard to tell just how much the river has receded. It's marked, but it's too hard to see here. Next time, I'll get my husband to stand out there. The water has actually dropped a bit more since I took these photos.
The flood waters have brought with them some new critters into the back yard. There's a muskrat, who's as cute as can be, and a pair of mallards. Sorry, no photos. My telephoto lens isn't that good. While it's nice to see wildlife up close, the muskrat can carry diseases and the mallards should really be living near a real pond, not here. If she lays her eggs nearby, I'm going to worry about them for the entire summer.
As if the rising waters weren't enough, the septic pump broke twice in one day! First the float (it measures the water level and tells the pump to turn on), then the pump. I don't know if it was just time for the pump to go or if it was overwhelmed by the additional ground water, which was finding its way into the tank. Whatever the reason, it stopping pumping and was replaced. Cha-ching.
As far as more flooding and the crest, the forecasted levels have been updated (according to the Manitoba Water Stewardship website) and it doesn't look good. I'm not going to post any numbers here because the last time I did that things had changed by the time I wrote the piece and posted it. I'll just say that the forecasted peak levels have risen (compared to the forecasts from a few weeks ago) and it's enough to make us nervous. Very nervous. We still have no plans to sandbag, but that may change depending on the next week or so.
Since we haven't been through a crest yet, we are not sure what to expect. We were told that the water will start rising sometime this weekend. We've also heard (not sure where) that we should be prepared to live with high water levels for some time....perhaps weeks.
It's really hard to keep track of what going on in the rest of the province (the whole prairies really) when we are worried about our own house and property. However, we do know that others have it much worse than we do. Deaths, evacuations, closed roads, flooded houses, lost farmland and the list goes on. It's not good is an understatement. We are lucky in the grand scheme of things.
...and the rollercoaster continues.
The flood waters have brought with them some new critters into the back yard. There's a muskrat, who's as cute as can be, and a pair of mallards. Sorry, no photos. My telephoto lens isn't that good. While it's nice to see wildlife up close, the muskrat can carry diseases and the mallards should really be living near a real pond, not here. If she lays her eggs nearby, I'm going to worry about them for the entire summer.
As if the rising waters weren't enough, the septic pump broke twice in one day! First the float (it measures the water level and tells the pump to turn on), then the pump. I don't know if it was just time for the pump to go or if it was overwhelmed by the additional ground water, which was finding its way into the tank. Whatever the reason, it stopping pumping and was replaced. Cha-ching.
As far as more flooding and the crest, the forecasted levels have been updated (according to the Manitoba Water Stewardship website) and it doesn't look good. I'm not going to post any numbers here because the last time I did that things had changed by the time I wrote the piece and posted it. I'll just say that the forecasted peak levels have risen (compared to the forecasts from a few weeks ago) and it's enough to make us nervous. Very nervous. We still have no plans to sandbag, but that may change depending on the next week or so.
Since we haven't been through a crest yet, we are not sure what to expect. We were told that the water will start rising sometime this weekend. We've also heard (not sure where) that we should be prepared to live with high water levels for some time....perhaps weeks.
It's really hard to keep track of what going on in the rest of the province (the whole prairies really) when we are worried about our own house and property. However, we do know that others have it much worse than we do. Deaths, evacuations, closed roads, flooded houses, lost farmland and the list goes on. It's not good is an understatement. We are lucky in the grand scheme of things.
...and the rollercoaster continues.
It certainly sounds like a stressful time for you and your family with all the flooding. I know a bit about the expense of septic systems, as we had to replace the one in our 10 year old home, that failed inspection when we sold it....cha ching is right. We both vowed we would only buy a new place that had town sewers, which we did. Now we no longer have to worry about that.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a mess! We actually have two ponds in our neighborhood and we live between them. A muskrat goes between the two ponds and I have seen it run across our backyard. I had no idea it could carry diseases.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's pretty frightening to watch something happening in your own backyard.
ReplyDeleteFor thirteen years, I lived next to a river and in the shadow of the huge dam that was supposed to keep everything under control. Until the year that the dam broke...and we evacuated. Luckily, our house was high enough to escape disaster. But it was a frightening two days.
I hope everything works out....
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