PembinaValleyOnline News

Intense rainfall Tuesday evening lefts parts of Winkler underwater for a period of time last night with streets in low lying areas flooded, and water creeping up boulevards in some spots. Areas of downtown looked like a lake as the rain pounded the community between 7 and 8 p.m. The heavy rainfall and flooding prompted the City to ask residents to stay off streets until the water subsided.

PembinaValleyOnline Rainwatcher reports indicated up to 100mm, or 4 inches, of rain fell within an hour inside Winkler city limits.

An intense line of thunderstorms moving through parts of the Pembina Valley hammered the region early Tuesday evening with very heavy rainfall and hail. The downpour flooded streets in Winkler with water running down parts of Main Street and overflowing areas of downtown. Meanwhile, in Morden, ditches were filled in a short period of time.

On August 18th, Pembina Valley RCMP responded to a Break and Enter at Red’s Esso and Convenience Store in Manitou.  

Suspects entered the building overnight and stole approximately $15,000 in cigarettes as well as cash, fuel and fireworks damaging the building and closed-circuit video equipment in the process.  

Subsequent investigation led to the identification and arrest of two suspects, as well as the recovery of the cigarettes.

A very slow moving low pressure system brought multiple rounds of rain and thunderstorms to Southern Manitoba Thursday.

“It all started with a trough of low pressure early in the morning which brought substantial precipitation to areas of the Red River Valley and Southeastern Manitoba,” said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. “For example, both Altona and Steinbach received more than 30mm (1.2 inches) in an hour or less during the early morning hours yesterday. Those totals were padded with additional storms and showers throughout the day.”

Winkler police are investigating after a 15-year-old youth reported being assaulted while on his bicycle last week Wednesday.
    
According to police, the youth crossed the intersection at South Railway and Main Street on his bicycle without pressing the button to activate the crosswalk lights. While he noticed a vehicle approaching from the north, the cyclist felt like he had plenty of time to cross the street. 
    

The following article was submitted to PembinaValleyOnline by Central Charge Head Coach Keith Graham:

The "AA" program is a new program that has been in the works for the last couple years, but was finally able to get going with game play this year.  There is so much softball talent around Manitoba, with very limited AAA programs to play for.  This gives the girls a chance to showcase their talents in more competitive ball, as well as continue development in the sport. 

Warm and humid conditions across Southern Manitoba, coupled with the slow eastward trek of a surface low pressure system, led to multiple Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and reports of large hail, heavy rain and strong winds Monday evening. In addition to that, several Tornado Warnings were issued, including for the R.M.'s of Dufferin and Grey.

Police were called to the area around 11:15 p.m. and found a man, who matched the caller's description, carrying a laptop and backpack. He was arrested and found to have several vehicle keys and credit and debit cards, along with change on him. 
    
The man was charged with Possession of Property Obtained by Crime and released on an undertaking to attend Morden provincial court in October.

****Updated Monday, Aug 15th at 7:01 p.m.****

All Severe Thunderstorm Warnings have ended for the immediate region, but severe and non-severe thunderstorm activity is still a possibility Monday evening.

According to Environment Canada, baseball size hail was reported with the storm that impacted the Stephenfield Provincial Park and Graysville area. Heavy downpours and strong winds were also associated with that particular thunderstorm cell.

A group of people and vehicles were held up by Winkler Police Service from driving behind the Harvest Festival Parade Saturday morning. 

As the last vehicle in the parade turned the corner at Mountain Avenue and 15th Street, toward Main Street, signalling the end of the parade, some people started packing up their chairs ready to go on about their day.