Province plans to open Portage Diversion, Red River Floodway

The province of Manitoba plans to open the Portage Diversion within the next week in an effort to prevent ice jams and manageAssiniboine Riverlevels between Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg.

Manitoba Infrastructure's Hydrologic Forecast Centresaid in a news release Friday an Amphibex icebreaking machine has also been working in the diversion channel and at the channel's outlet.

The Portage Diversion is a 29-kilometre channel that starts at an inlet near Portage la Prairie, about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg,and redirects some water from the Assiniboine River north into Lake Manitoba.

The province says the efforts should keep riverflow to 5,000 cubic feet per second on the lower Assiniboine River.

Watching for rain, snow

The province also plans to open the Red River Floodway next week, river flow and ice conditions permitting.

The 47-kilometre long floodway channel diverts part of the Red River's flow around the east side of Winnipeg, from an inlet near St. Norbert to an outlet near Lockport.

The forecast centresays it continues to watchweather systems that are predicted to bring rain or snow to the Red River and Assiniboine River watersheds over the next 10 days, but theoutlook for high water continues to be at or slightly less than the 2009 flood levels.

TheRed River is forecast to crest at Emerson, Man., between April 15 and 18.

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