It was a wild May long weekend, disrupting more than the usual camping plans.
Rainfall saturating the ground, along with high winds caused some trees to fall over, their roots lifting out of the saturated ground. Hydro power was disrupted in some locations throughout
Westman. Outages were prolonged in the Kenton area for over 30 hours to some families.
In Virden, some tree branches were broken. On ball diamond No. 3 the dugout was torn off its foundation and blown back against the stands.
In the park at Reston a huge spruce tree was torn up by the roots. Bill McMurtry, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada received reports of trees and
powerlines down and even of semi-trailers being blown over on the TransCanada Highway.
The wind was at its strongest on Saturday evening, May 16 - 17. Gusts in Virden were recorded at 72 kms/hr. and Melita recorded up to 80 km/hr wind gusts.
Melita also topped the province’s rainfall amounts with 90 millimeters. Rainfall was recorded in Virden at 45 millimeters overnight on the 16-17. Manitoba
Agricultural network, however, recorded just 30 millimeters of rain at Virden.
Boissevain was deep in snow with 10-15 cm by Sunday evening. Country roads that had dried up since spring melt are now swamped again. Fields and ditches are running with water.
Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation's Hydrologic Forecasting Centre reports says the effect of the precipitation is negligible on the upstream portion of the Assiniboine River near the Shellmouth Reservoir basin and the Qu'Appelle River basin.
At this time, no operation changes are required for the Shellmouth Reservoir as water levels on the lower Assiniboine will continue to recede.
The effect of the precipitation will be minor on the Souris River basin. River levels have been rising in all portions of the Souris River basin within Manitoba.
Levels are expected to be below the peak levels observed in late March due to spring runoff.
