MESSAGE TO ALL RESIDENTS OF THE RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS:
Council and Staff would like to advise you that we are meeting regularly to discuss the current flood situation. We would like to address a number of items as follows:
1. Municipal Road Closures – Many rural roads have been closed because they are impassable. We would ask that unless you are a local area resident that you stay off of our gravel roads. ALL DIRT Roads should not even be attempted for travel. We have seen pictures of people trying to navigate some of our roads and they have stayed suck in the mud. PLEASE STAY OFF!
2. Provincial Road Closures – these are listed on the Manitoba 511 System. The closure of Highway 75 is most notable to us. Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has closed the north side of the Town of Morris Ring Dike, therefore PTH 75 is closed between the north end of Morris and the PR 205 Intersection. Travel on this section of PTH 75 is now limited to our local residents only.
3. Evacuation – the last major evacuation that we had was in 2009. We do have lists of properties that required evacuation in 2009 and are in the process of updating the contact info for those properties. If you are new to the municipality since 2009, we wish to advise you that if you are located inside the communities that have ring dikes such as Aubigny, Rosenort and Riverside, your properties should be protected to 1997 plus 2 foot flood elevations and therefore should be safe. Properties outside the ring diked communities have upgraded their homes/yards to these levels as well, however road elevations may be lower and therefore those residents may lose road access to their properties.
In the event that you are concerned about preparing for a possible evacuation here is a link from the Province that gives you guidance to some resources: https://www.gov.mb.ca/emo/resources/downloads.html#General
If you have concerns or inquiries about whether your property may be susceptible to an evacuation please call our Municipal Emergency Coordinator at 204-292-4676.
It is not the intention of the Rural Municipality of Morris to force anyone to evacuate, however there are some legal guidelines that must be followed if a property is no longer accessible by emergency services.
4. Sewage
4.1 Urban – we are still requesting that if you are connected to our municipal sewer systems that you ensure that your sump pump is directed away from your municipal sewer. Our systems have been running steadily and we are trying to prevent people from having sewer backups into their homes.
4.2 Rural – Some rural properties have sewage ejectors to look after their wastewater. If you have an ejector that is outside a flood protected area, you may wish to extend the height of the ejector pipe so that it will be at a higher elevation than the projected flood levels. If the pipe is overtopped by floodwaters, then it is very likely that you will have a sewer backup in your home.
We want to assure you, our residents, that we are monitoring the flood situation and doing our best to help and protect you and your properties.