Soldiers Help Winnipeg Fight Red River 7,000 Canadian Troops Combat Floodwaters As River Nears Crest

Thousands of soldiers and emergency workers shored up Winnipeg’s flood defenses Wednesday, preparing for the worst even as hopes rose that the Red River’s crest will be lower than anticipated.

A huge floodway built in the mid-1960s to divert water around the city to the east is expected to save most of Winnipeg from the region’s worst flood of the century.

In addition, a 25-mile temporary dike was constructed in a hurry southwest of Winnipeg to prevent the floodwaters from making an end run into the city.

And more than 7,000 soldiers have been moved into the region to combat the flood - the Canadian military’s biggest deployment since the Korean War.

Though optimistic the dike will hold, authorities put 3,000 families just north of the dike on evacuation alert, meaning they will have to leave within 24 hours if the dike is breached.

“Our approach is and always had been to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” said Mayor Susan Thompson. She said it would take the floodwaters about 40 hours to reach homes if the dike failed.

The crest of the river is now expected to reach the city today, and Thompson said it is not expected to be much higher than 24 feet. She said the crest level could last for several days.

The city has already laid 4.5 million sandbags, and estimates 1 million more are needed.

On Tuesday, the flood inundated Ste. Agathe, a mostly evacuated town 15 miles south of Winnipeg. It was the first Canadian community washed out by the flood that has already devastated cities in Minnesota and North Dakota.

So far, about 25,000 Canadians have been forced from their homes in the Winnipeg area and in farming towns to the south.