Floodwaters have long dissipated in the Rural Municipality of Morris, but the cleanup is still far from over.
In fact, Reeve Ralph Groening says only about five to ten percent of that work has been completed. He notes though all roads are passable once again in the municipality, Riverside Road remains open to local traffic only. The municipality is waiting for a thorough inspection of the bridge over the Morris River, before reopening that road to all traffic.
Groening says the spring flood of 2022 in the RM of Morris will cost approximately $20 million. This estimate does not include any damages incurred on private property of ratepayers. It is for damages to infrastructure, culverts and roads in the municipality, as well as the cleanup of flood debris.
By comparison, the flood cleanup from the 1997 flood was approximately $12 million, though Groening says that is not comparing apples to apples as costs have obviously increased in 25 years.
Groening says following the floods in 1997, 2009 and 2011, they hired a private plane to fly them over the municipality in order to assess the damage. This year, they rather hired an individual to fly a drone over the area, snapping photos of the destruction. He says it was quick and inexpensive while also effective and easy and definitely the right thing to do.
The cleanup might be far from even half complete, but you might not think that if you made a stop at the Rosenort landfill. Groening says 20 million kilograms of flood debris has been dropped off at the Rosenort landfill and they have now started using the Lowe Farm landfill for that as well. Putting that into perspective, Groening says 20 million kilograms is 4,000 tandem truckloads of debris.
According to Groening, there are about 40 individual units of equipment working in the municipality right now. He notes these trucks and machines are mostly focusing on debris cleanup in ditches. They are also focusing on the repair or replacement of culverts.