Rooftop rescues

Most dikes held, leaving low-lying islands of dry communities in a vast new sea. Aerial views showed dots of individually diked houses in rural areas and larger islands of protected towns.

A home in southern Manitoba sits lower than the water level but remains dry thanks to a wall of sandbags around it.

(CBC)

Those without protection loaded up their most important belongings and fled before the deepest water arrived, or were forced to their rooftops to await rescue. More than a few times, Const. Brault and a team of soldiers pulled up to a home or a barn — an arm's reach from the eaves — and helped stranded homeowners into a boat.

(Provided/Richard Brault)

Some 350 farms were impacted, with most finding dry, temporary placements for their horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock. But drenched and muck-covered fields left behind after floodwaters receded meant a shortened growing season — if any at all. Some refused to leave, and Brault said he refused to force them out unless their lives were endangered. "I would stop in, make sure they had food. I was first there to help and provide assistance," he said. "Once they felt things were out of their control, they could call us and we'd help them leave."

Chickens are moved out of the flood zone on a barge. (CBC)

Neighbours worked with neighbours, desperately sand-bagging homes, pumping out basements and moving belongings to rooftops. Many chose to leave after a while, and when they did, it was Brault and other RCMP officers, the military and an army of flood-fighters who helped them out of the flood zone. Sometimes, people tried instead to get in. They wanted to know what was happening to their homes, Brault said. They were almost always spotted by helicopter crews, who directed boat patrols to them. Some, though, were turned back by waves before the RCMP or military reached them, Brault said.

"There were days the waves were three feet high out there." Only once did he bring someone back into a town: a man who was returning to bring medication to a neighbour still in the flood zone. "When he saw his own house, there was three feet of water through the main level. He just started crying," said Brault. "Most people never saw behind the scenes. They only saw things after the water was gone. "I never took anyone back after that."

'A very stressful time'

St. Jean Baptiste, just 30 kilometres from the U.S. border, was among the first Canadian communities to experience the flood. As the water surrounded the border town of Emerson — a community well-versed in flood protection — and moved north to St. Jean, the spotlight fell on Flo Beaudette, the reeve of the rural municipality of Montcalm. He worried about whether the dikes would be high enough. While the tiny French community was evacuated, Beaudette stayed and held his breath. "It was a very stressful time. The waves were at the edge of the dike, and he almost lost it at one point," said his widow, Celine.

The church in St. Jean Baptiste, Man., sits on dry land, protected by a huge dike surrounding the town. The bridge leading into town, however, was cut off by the floodwaters. (Canadian Press)

Beaudette, who died two years ago, carried a big weight, Celine said. His concern was for everyone — not just his own home and family. "I never got to talk to him very much during that time. He was so busy getting phone calls from government people and people who were evacuated, asking what was happening," said Celine, who went to stay at their daughter's place in Stonewall, just north of Winnipeg. Beaudette did check on his own property, which fell outside the St. Jean dike, and was instead surrounded by sandbags. As the water rose, he used a boat to get into the loft of his barn so he could still feed his chickens and collect eggs.

Marge Novotny, 69, centre, leaves her home for the third time since 1937 due to floods. Helping her are her son Rick, left, and brother-in-law, Charlie. (Canadian Press)

"The only time he phoned me was to say the dike broke around our house and the water was coming in," Celine said. The couple had just finished a major kitchen renovation. They would have to start all over, cut open the walls and strip the home down to the studs. During her exile from St. Jean, Celine decided to fly to Ontario for a break that never really materialized. In the air, the pilot told passengers to look out the window at the "Red Sea." "I'd rather not," Celine groaned.

(Manitoba Natural Resources)