WINNIPEG -- A mass of Red River ice that swept though St. Andrews and St. Clements Sunday leaving a trail of destruction and flooding is now safely out of the way.
St. Andrews reeve Don Forfar said he breathed a sigh of relief when he took a helicopter tour of the area yesterday.
"One of the reasons I wanted to go up in the chopper was to see that the ice jam had moved right out of the river, and it has," Forfar said.
The ice has moved north into Netley Marsh and Netley Lake.
"It's out of the river, so that means our ice problems are over," Forfar said.
RM of St. Andrews officials worried Sunday that the Red's swell would back up into Netley Creek where it would add to overland flooding and threaten homes along the creek in the Petersfield area. The RM evacuated 117 properties in the area Sunday as a precaution against the kind of last-minute rescue work that had to be undertaken in Breezy Point earlier in the day.
But reeve Don Forfar said ice movement and pumping efforts helped minimize the deluge.
"We had several places that flooded, but I don't know that there's all that much damage," Forfar said.
Forfar said there was some flooding along the east side of the creek.
"It came within about a foot of flooding at my place," said Trevor Wallace who owns a cottage on the western part of Netley Creek near Petersfield. His parents also live in the area and were not flooded.
"It was higher than 1997 though -- it could have been really bad."
Forfar said the RM is also continuing to work on freeing up drainage ditches and culverts.
