As winter begins to turn into spring, Morden's Director of Operations will be keeping a close eye on the forecast. 

Tim Reimer says preparations for the spring melt are underway.

"We're always doing the routine stuff that we do in getting ready for the spring melt, and that is cleaning out the drainage areas with the snow load, that being the ditches and overland areas where water does flow. We're trying to free that up of any snow and ice," he explained.

"You can never be too prepared, and expect the unexpected," added Reimer when asked what he took away from last year's high-water event brought on by late winter storms and heavy spring rains. The unexpected situation resulted in significant flood damage throughout the region, including in the City of Morden where, in particular, the Alvey Street and Parkhill Street bridges were damaged beyond repair. Demolition on the two structures began in November, making way for entirely new bridges to be built. Tenders for that work were recently awarded, and Reimer says the hope is that construction can begin soon. 

Additionally, Reimer says there's a portion of ditch along South Railway that needs to be reconstructed as well. Repairs to most of the roads and culverts were completed last year. 

And as southern Manitoba waits for the spring runoff to start flowing, Reimer offered this piece of safety advice. 

"Driving through flowing water, heavy water, there's always a danger in that with the unknown of how deep the water is or what the condition of the road is underneath," he said. "We always want to remind people, to whatever extreme the flooding is, whether it be flooding or routine spring runoff."

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