Farmers near Portage Diversion to be compensated for flood losses
A handful of Manitoba farmers whose fields were flooded when the Portage Diversion was in use this summer will be compensated for their losses.
The provincial government announced on Wednesday that it has set aside $1.15 million to pay for losses and remediation of about 2,500 acres of land that was intentionally flooded when the diversion was operating in early July.
The province decided to use the Portage Diversion to help control the rising Assiniboine River, but doing so meant agricultural land nearby would be flooded. The structure diverts flood water from the river to Lake Manitoba.
But Kevin Yuill, whose land has been flooded twice in the past four years, says he's concerned because the province hasn't done anything to protect him and other farmers if they are flooded again.
"That will not cover restoration because we never worked those fields this year because we can't get on them, which means the salinity's going to start climbing," he told CBC News.
"I mean, it's a good start, but it should have come [on the] first of July, when they knew that they were destroying our lives."
