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“The cabin’s flooded, and then seeing the pictures it’s just so heartbreaking, cause you know everything you have is destroyed."

That was the reaction Manitoba resident Lisa Downton had after seeing her family's Black Sturgeon cabin completely destroyed and unliveable, from the high water levels on the lake.

Downton and her family are grain farmers from the Iles des Chenes and Lorette area, south of Winnipeg, and bought their cabin last spring, as a family getaway from their busy work lives.

Flooding across the region and the driver shortage is continuing to impact school bus routes.

The following routes have cancelled stops or delays on Thursday, May 26.

Kenora

• KN13, KN15, & KN88 – all stops north of the Kenora By-pass (Hwy. 17A) will be cancelled due to road closures.

Red Lake

• RL6 – stops on Dupont Drive and Young Street east of Chelsea Street will be cancelled due to conditions on Young Street.

Dryden/Vermilion Bay

The level of Lake of the Woods is now above the 2014 peak, according to the Lake of the Woods Control Board (LWCB).

The current level of Lake of the Woods is 323.79 m (1062.3 ft), which is over 95th percentile level for this time of year.

In 2014, Lake of the Woods reached 323.78 m (1062.29 ft).

The lake does remain below the record level of 324.31 m (1064.0 ft) which was set in 1950.

The LWCB says, record lake levels are possible and will depend on rainfall across the watershed in the next couple of weeks.

A number of lakes were added to the list of closures Tuesday in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

A local state of emergency was declared on May 20th for Whiteshell Provincial Park due to rising water levels within the park. All developed areas at Betula Lake were closed on May 21st. This closure area was expanded on Tuesday to include Sylvia Lake, Otter Falls, Dorothy Lake, Barrier Bay and Nutimik Lake areas. No person should reside or enter the closed area.

Residents north of the Kenora by-pass have been hit hard in the last few weeks as they have dealt with washed-out roads, and severely high water levels, which has caused overland flooding in some low-lying areas.

These treacherous conditions, therefore, caused many residents to evacuate their homes and properties, as the worry of being stranded and cut off from emergency services, and the rest of the community became more of a reality.

Over a week ago the Kenora Recreation Centre was turned into an evacuation facility, for those that left their homes north of the by-pass, following the city issuing an Evacuation Order for areas east of Black Sturgeon Lake on May 13, 2022. 

As of May 24, 2022, Coker road evacuee Aimee Baldwin has been the only one that has used the rec centre since it became an evacuation centre, back on May 13, 2022.

In response to the rising water levels and localized flooding in the area, the Municipality of Sioux Lookout has taken further action and declared a State of Emergency on Tuesday (May 24, 2022). 

Mayor Doug Lawrance says the decision to declare a State of Emergency is twofold.

As the water levels continue to decline and the lack of precipitation in the recent days the City of Kenora says that has allowed crews to continue work 500m north of Bells Point Road. The work will continue throughout the rest of the week, with timelines and updates coming in the next day or two. 

Natasha Naccarato and her three kids, like many residents north of the Kenora by-pass had to evacuate their Coker road home back on May 12, 2022, due to overland flooding.

High water levels east of the Black Sturgeon Lake caused roadways on East Melick, Essex, and Coker Road and north of the Portier Bridge to either be washed out or submerged underwater, making travelling very unsafe.

A ceramic gnome, named Charlie has gained quite a bit of traction on social media these past two weeks, as being the unofficial water gauge for the residents living on Black Sturgeon Lake.

Howard Vanachte who is the owner of Charlie has him placed at the end of his dock on the shoreline. With the rising water over the past couple of weeks, Howard posts a daily picture on the Black Sturgeon Property Owners Association Facebook page to update residents on the current water levels.