Lake Manitoba swells with diverted water

CBC News

Posted: May 13, 2011 10:22 AM CT

The flood crisis has expanded into areas around Lake Manitoba as increasing amounts of water from the raging Assiniboine River is sent there by the Portage Diversion.

Hundreds of cattle producers say they are being flooded out, at least 200 homes and cottages in Delta Beach are close to being flooded by the rise in the lake levels, and several First Nations communities have been sandbagged and diked to protect against water they say has never been so high. "It's very, very depressing. Like, it's very wet. The biggest thing is the uncertainty of what the government is going to do to help," said Steven Cook, who farms in the Steep Rock area near the northeast end of the lake.

He estimates tens of thousands of acres of pasture and hayland are under water.

"I mean, it's complete livelihoods that are going down the drain — a lifetime of work," Cook said...Read Here