Only road in to Lynn Lake, Man. washes out

The only way into Lynn Lake, located around 900 kilometres north of Winnipeg, has been washed out by water.

The water started rushing underHighway 391 on Thursday and by the evening it was completely impassible as the road crumbled in, said Lynn Lake Mayor James Lindsay.

"It's unclear right now as to how long this road is going to be out. It could be tomorrow, it could be Tuesday," he said.

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That means no mail or freight trucks are getting through and a handful of students are stuck away from home.

"We have a number of students who are out on school trips," Lindsay said.

"The division, I understand, has chartered a plane to get them from Thompson home for the long weekend. They were supposed to be driving back today but that's not happening."

Local heavy equipment contractors have teamed with Manitoba Infrastructure to get the road operational as soon as possible, he said, but they have to wait until the rushing water slows down.

Lynn Lake doesn't get much of a spring season, Lindsay said, adding it "usually goes right from winter into summer." But the blizzard that coated the community of about 500 people in March has been the major factor to the road disintegrating.

"We got an inordinate amount of snow later in the season. Our lakes were still frozen so that was holding it back, and now with the warmer weather the lakes are starting to open up the creeks and the rivers and all of the water is starting to move all at once," he said.

Lindsay said that while the washout is not ideal, "it's nothing too catastrophic."

"It is reparable," he said.