Storm Tracker

The photo below was submitted by Dominique Dupas of the Darlington Bridge. The top photo was taken in 2017 and the lower photo was taken in 2022.

Submit your photos or videos of the flooding or story idea to news@kenoraonline.com.

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

The following routes have cancelled stops or delays on Monday, May 30.

Kenora

• KN13, KN15, & KN88 – all stops north of the Kenora By-pass (Hwy. 17A) will be cancelled due to road closures.
• Kenora - KN14 will be cancelled on Monday, May 30 due to driver shortage. 

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

--- Update ---

Power has been restored to residents north and south of Longbow Lake.

Restoration of power to Grassy Narrows First Nation is now estimated to be done by 8:00 p.m.

Fewer than 20 customers are without power in the Duffus Road area. Power is expected to be restored by 7:00 p.m.

--- Original Story ---

The number of customers without power in the region has doubled.

According to Hydro One, there are currently four outages in the area affecting roughly 982 customers.

The level of Black Sturgeon Lake continues to fall and remains higher than the Winnipeg River.

Howard Vanachte says the rollers are still flowing with about 14 inches higher than the river.

The Lake of the Woods Control Board says the level of the Winnipeg River is expected to rise between one and two inches over the next seven days.

Upstream from the entrance to the Winnipeg River, the lake is down three inches at Beauty Bay since Friday according to Mark Mulski who has been providing water level updates on the East Melick Area Flood 2022 Facebook page.

--- Update ---

The rainfall forecast has been updated to reflect the changing track of the storm. Now 20-40 mm of rain is expected to fall, up from the original 15-30 mm forecasters predicted earlier Sunday morning.

--- Original Story ---

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for the region.

Environment Canada says conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms that may be capable of producing heavy rain.

Severe thunderstorms may move in from Northern Minnesota later this morning.

Water levels across the region remain high. Lake of the Woods has exceeded its 2014 peak and the Lake of the Woods Control Boards says the lake could break the all-time high water mark.

The pictures below were taken on May 14 and May 28 and show how much the water has risen on Laurenson's Creek.

Around 467 customers are without power in the Kenora area today.

Hydro One reports there are 349 customers without power south of Longbow Lake and estimates that power will be restored by 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.

There is an additional 118 customers without power northeast of Laclu. Hydro One says power should be restored for those homes by 2:15 p.m.

As of 8:30 am Sunday, May 29:

Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure want to advise people not to travel into the Whiteshell Provincial Park area. Many highways are flooded, making travel conditions treacherous. Flood Warning in Effect for Winnipeg River and Whiteshell Lakes Area.

Highway 17 - from Manitoba / Ontario Border, Easterly for 6.8 kilometres expected delays for as long as 20 minutes due to construction. Traffic is controlled by flagging.

“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.

Back-to-back storm systems could drop upwards of 80 mm of rain by Tuesday.

Environment Canada says showers and thunderstorms are expected to start affecting the area from Sunday afternoon with rainfall amounts of 10 to 20 mm expected by Monday afternoon, noting that some areas could see rainfall totals of 20 to 40 mm due to thunderstorms.

Another round of precipitation is expected to move in from Minnesota on Monday evening and will likely persist into Tuesday.