RMs thaw frozen culverts to lower flood risk

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This article was published 27/03/2017 (2580 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rural municipalities have been working overtime trying to thaw frozen culverts and prevent overland flooding.

Unusually warm temperatures in January caused water to flow into ditches that then froze. Blocks of ice inside culverts — where the sun doesn’t shine — is now blocking spring runoff.

“We’re steaming a lot of culverts,” said West St. Paul chief administrator Brent Olynyk. “With the thaw and freeze and thaw (of last January), water gets on the surface and has nowhere to go.”

West St. Paul has to monitor about 1,000 of its 2,000 culverts for blockages, he said. The municipality has hired five additional contractors to keep culverts clear, along with its own two crews. Many are working 16-hour days to keep the culverts open.

“The last place to melt is a culvert under a road or driveway,” Olynyk said.

Overland flooding is being reported in several rural municipalities. Mckenzie Avenue in Steinbach was covered in water Monday morning due to a blocked culvert, and overland flooding has run into several basements in the RM of Hanover. Three municipal roads in Hanover also had to be closed Tuesday.

There has been no flooding to date in the RM of East St. Paul, but crews have been working 18 days straight to keep it that way, said operations manager Shawn Tosh.

The municipality has more than 700 culverts to unblock, and has had to thaw some up to five times, Tosh said.

Ditches are being excavated of snow and ice, and culverts are being steamed, he said. The steaming process involves jetting scalding water into the culvert to make an opening of about eight centimetres in diameter. Flowing water in the ditch then works to expand the aperture.

Warmer temperatures expected for later this week should help alleviate the situation, he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca